Magnolia Perfume
by Porcelain.Memories
Summary: White magnolias covered her path, while he fulfilled her darkest desires and Sakura wanted to pass the point of no return and be his. Because he was there to guide her. Sasuke was not real...or maybe she was not alive either. But his kiss and touch and scent still lingered...and so did her soul...in life and death and passion. After all, that is how it all starts...as a dream.
1. The Raven and a shattered red wine glass

Warning: Mature content

* * *

"_**The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."**_

**Mark Twain**

**-1-**

2

3

4

5

6

7

* * *

'You came'

'I want to talk'

'About you and I'

'You mean us.'

'Has there ever been…_us_.'

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

I.

A small smirk playing on his enchanting lips. But the emotion has never reached his _eyes_. Those eyes…of his…**insanity…**'True. Because what I am interested in…is _you._'

'Why?' She held her ground, despite the syllables in her unique name, rolling sinfully delicious over his tongue, letting her know the effect his alluring baritone voice still had on her mind.

And _soul_.

And _heart_.

In _life_.

And even _after_…

'You _want_ me.' It was not a question. She watched him take small steps towards her, predatory, swiftly like he was defying gravity-he probably was-entrapping her with those flaming sapphire black eyes, burning her mind to ashes, to the point she felt her chest constrict.

'This is why you are here.' Far away…still so far away…still not close enough…

It was never

_Enough_.

'You are wrong' His unfaltering steps only came to a halt when their faces were close enough for their breaths to fan on each other's lips, her emerald glimmering eyes flying down on those impossibly luscious lips she craved to taste…drink…feel the silkiness under her own, massaging and dancing together, in the rhythm their hearts dictated.

She wanted him…_closer_…no…closer was dangerous…far

Far

Far

Away

From her mind

And soul

And heart

And life

His mint breath has blown a steam of hot air upon the rosy soft petals, parted unconsciously at the feel of him asking for permission to explore, to taste her.

_Intoxicating_.

'You are not real' She tried to reason with her mind. But her body was only listening to him. Calling him. Wanting him.

_**Let**_

_**Me**_

_**Be**_

_**Free**_

**She came there to put an end to the masquerade.**

* * *

He was pulling her erect rosy nipples hard, enjoying the feel of the soft sensitive skin tingling under his touch, then squeezed her full breasts, massaging and rubbing them together with the back of his palm, while he worked inside her, fucking her senseless, with all his might, thrusting deep inside her womb, hitting her sweet spot each time he pulled back and darted all the way inside, while she was moaning helplessly, screaming his name in bliss, stirring the animal within him to bury himself even deeper each time he took her, as fast as it was humanly possible.

Her knees were bruised from constantly hitting the hard wooden surface of the kitchen counter, while her knuckles were going purple at the harsh grip she had on the edge, holding her for dear life, but she couldn't move an inch because his hard rock body was keeping her trapped.

She had convulsions on all her muscles and her mind had a complete shut down, giving in completely into the feel of him moving inside her with abandonment, perceiving him through all her pores.

It was madness what he lighted into her.

No one would be able to make her feel so good, so light headed and so amazingly free to spread her wings and fly.

She felt liberated whenever she was in his arms, that time being no exception.

She arched her long swan neck when she felt his hot tongue tracing her shoulder blades, the going up to her arched spine, aiming for the pulse.

She tilted her head to give him full access to press his canines down her throbbing vein, sucking the sensitive flesh hungrily, making her insane.

'Ahhhh….'

She gripped the edge of the counter with one hand, preventing her stomach to hit the hard furniture because of his harsh thrusts, barely managing to keep herself standing, the other fumbling backwards to lock her fingers into his midnight velvet messy locks, pulling, almost forcing his mouth to leave the neck he was ravaging.

Like a lion devouring his prey, not letting any cell uncovered by his expert lips, grazing his teeth all the way to her collarbone, as far as he could go from that position, feeling his own vision get foggy at the taste of her milk and honey flavored porcelain skin, trying to drink from her very life, vibrating through her pores whenever he managed to steal a broken cry from her bruised plump parted lips.

'You only live inside my _mind_'

He growled low into his chest at the sensation, feeling even more turned on and that only urged him to go deeper into her slick passage, faster, as far as he could reach.

If that would have been possible, he would have hit her up to the back of her throat, not getting enough of how amazingly fit her clamping around his rock member inner walls felt, swallowing and welcoming him into her gentle frame.

Magnificent and unbelievably amazing.

Like Yin and Yang mixing their essences together, to create an universal ordeal. It was a language only they could speak.

'What is _imagination_ for you? Something _tangible_...'

'Sasuke...'

'Something debauched...'

Sasuke rolled the rosy bud, playing with the creamy tissue of her breast, the other slipping past her front, descending down sensually, resting in between her parted legs, just where they were connected, pinching her swollen erect clit, rubbing her at the same fast peace with his pounds on her.

She lost her mind screaming ecstasy. He did _everything _he wanted with her body.

He was touching her without any shame whatever he liked it and she didn't stop him.

She liked what he was doing even though she felt like a cheap whore. Wasn't that what she was after all?

Only sex. And it was her consent to give him her body to abuse, agreeing to fuck him the first time they met, until she couldn't keep her eyes opened.

'Ah...no...stop...'

_Sinful_

_Delectable_

Ironically forbidden. Like the apple. That apple.

Throw me outside Eden and skin me alive.

With your touch

Your nectar kiss

My deepest desire

Lies in you

And I don't know you.

* * *

'_But I __love__ you. Every part of you.'_

Sakura felt her all muscles aching and there was a boiling pool inside her lower abdomen, making her hot like melting lava, her inner walls constrict at the feel of Sasuke stretching her insides, tearing her tight passage apart with his hard thrusts, begging to be released.

She came violently when a sudden orgasm hit her full force, her body going flushed and she almost fell on the kitchen counter if not for his strong arms folding around her thin waist, dearly, possessively and prevent a collision.

'Who are you?'

She felt a pair of soft moist lips pressed at the back of her ear shell, blowing a hot steam of air, fanning her jaw and neck, sending delectable shivers down her spine and he only managed two more trusts before he exploded inside her, filling her with his offspring, their combined juices dripping from her core, leaking down her thigh and knee.

Sasuke`s harsh ragged breaths were cooling down the drops of sweat rolling down her hair, to her shoulder, planting a soft kiss on the sensitive skin. He was still firmly planted inside her, refusing to let go.

Warm

Rock hard

Insatiable

_Irresistible_

Haven't they had enough already?

'Sasuke'

'_Who_ are you? I want to know...'

'Does it matter?'

'Does this not feel good?'

'No...' liar. Her mind screamed at her.

'...I am _engaged_...'

'You are not'

Their sweaty bodies were glued together and she could feel every rise and fall of his chiseled chest pressing her back with every uneven breath he took and the pump of his ecstatic heartbeat drumming like a pendulum swing in the caress of time, echoing through her intoxicated mind.

'You are not'

'He asked me'

'But you refused him'

'...Sasuke...'

A hot mouth was pressed on her ear, whispering the lascivious simple command. 'Suck me.' Sakura felt her knees turn to jelly and her core damp in excitement.

To taste him and let her tongue wander through his unblemished skin, to the content of her heart, free of restrain and prejudices, getting drunk of his taste. But usually she that before he entered her.

She turned around into his arms to face him, feeling him retract, making her shiver at the loss of his warmth feeling her in, taking a step back to give her space to go down on her knees, envelop the base of his semi erect shaft with her small lean fingers, tracing her lips with the tip of her tongue to moisten them.

He was covered in their body fluids and surprisingly enough she didn't feel disgusted, on the contrary, she felt herself getting wet and horny.

'Sakura...' Sasuke fisted his hands down her damp pink hair while he felt her rolling her tongue expertly along the throbbing veins of the long shaft, then going back to take a long lick on his balls, putting her mouth over the sensitive skin and suckle them gently, while her hand fisted around his manwhood, stroking him at the same time, dragging the soft layer of his foreskin up and down, making him growl deep into his chest, while indecent curses left his parted lips, onyx eyes shut tight.

There was a burning sensation clenching in his lower abdomen and it intensified with each passing second, while she worked expertly on him, pleasuring him like only she would be able to.

Sakura licked him all like a lollipop, moaning at the taste of him, emerald eyes shut tight to have a better perception of his skin on her own, with ample grazes of her abrasive tongue, going back to the oozing with milky juices tip, spiting on it to add more moisture, then taking him into her mouth, sucking soundly and flicking her tongue over the head, saliva and cum leaking at the corner of her mouth, while she lowered her head, trying to take as much as she could from him, until he hit the back of her throat, making her gag.

'Fuck…Sakura'

Sasuke jerked his hips forward, pushing himself more into Sakura`s mouth, growling at the feel of her lips pressed around his hardened member.

She bobbled her mouth up and down, setting a slow motion, teasing him and tasting their combined fluids on her tongue. It was salty and hot and not in the slightest bad.

He lulled his head forward, thrusting faster, fucking her mouth, panting and growling her name.

She shut her eyes, feeling her lungs scream for oxygen, saliva leaking from the corner of her mouth, going dizzy.

She gripped his firm ass for support, while she was orally pleasuring him, sucking him like he wanted, letting him set the peace he wanted, his knees hitting her shoulders her each time he moved.

And she liked every part of what was happening, finding herself having a carnal urge for him. All of him. As much as he could give, she would greedily take him all.

For Sakura, it was an exciting feeling the mere thought of him being so defenseless and willing to beg for pleasure, lowering his walls to the point she was able to actually see emotions flowing through his pants and body language.

Bathed in lust forest green eyes crept open to look at his face, marveling at the erotic sight of his damp raven locks sticking to his high cheeks, concealing his pnyx long lashed eyes, neck arched, thin lips partly opened to inhale harshly and the manly sounds coming from his were making her go crazy.

She felt her own throbbing lower lips soak at the sight of him so lost in pleasure.

Suddenly, Sakura felt him pulling back, looking down at her. She was panting heavily and her hands fell on the back of his muscled thighs, resting her forehead on his hip bone, exhausted.

'Go in all your fours.'

'What?'

'Trust me.'

She did just as he said, not questioning further, kneeing in front of him, supporting herself on her palms, her face at the same level with his manhood.

She couldn't help but feel her mouth water at the way it stood proud, covered in their slick juices, glowing under the warm blue pale light of the neon.

'Take me in again Sakura and suck me, my angel. Suck me with passion.'

Not waiting for another invitation, Sakura leaned in and swallowed him up again, feeling him melt into her mouth.

No matter how many times she did that to him, his skin felt amazing and tasted amazing-surprisingly sweet for a spicy hot man like him and undeniable soft-

Divine.

'Mmmmn…' And she couldn't help a moan to broke in her chest when she felt two fingers making their way to her inner lips, rubbing her slick inner folds lazily, then pushing inside her thigh passage, curling them inside and fingering her from the behind, while he was screwing her mouth, the sensation electrifying.

It was dirty and debauched, but unbelievably wonderful.

'Does he make you feel good?' His hoarse low baritone voice was making the best aphrodisiac, making her heart skip a pump and her chest to constrict, his touch out of the world. Only he was able to read her mind.

No one else.

'...Ah...Mmmnnnno'

'Does _he_ give you pleasure?'

'The kind that only I can give?'

'Sasuke...'

'How many times have you chanted his name...' ...'in bliss'...'in rapture'...'in your _sleep_'

'Aaahhh' Sasuke fastened his peace, adding another long lean finger inside her needing core, pumping her hard, massaging her inner constricting walls, feeling his hand damp with her seeping sweet liquids.

The carnal need, the primal urges of their bodies, the way they were abusing each of their fantasies, trying to come up with more ways to pleasure and explore further were driving Sakura insane.

She tasted each part of him, licking, biting, sucking and drinking him all, not imagining herself doing that to anyone that was not Sasuke.

She was surprised when he pulled back from her, giving her time to catch her breath, sneaking a hand under her knees, the other around her torso, lifting her from the ground, bowing his chin down to capture her lips in a passionate kiss, tasting himself on her tongue, loving the syrupy luscious mixture they were able to produce.

_So good_. So incredibly real and right.

Delicious.

Sweet and spicy.

Sakura gripped his broad shoulders, clenching her nails around the pale skin, while he was taking them both to his room, holding her dearly to his hot body, carrying her bridal style. Like a lover would do.

'_Love of my life…lies here in you.' _

Sasuke let his back hit the navy silk mattress, taking them both down, with her straddling his waist, placing a hand on her thigh, the other at the nape of her neck, keeping her in place while he kissed her sensually, stroking her bruised lips with his tongue, licking and darting back inside, dancing with her.

She moaned softly, grounding her hips down his own, her soaked core rubbing his hard member, while her fingertips were caressing his chest and steal abs, marveling at every contour of his finely sculpted body.

'Do you think about me when you fuck him?'

'Do you imagine him doing this to you?'

'Sakura.'

'I...'

'Do you?'

'Sakura...' His usually smooth melodic low baritone voice was hoarse and desperate, and his need for her only growing tenfold when she gripped his covered in pre cum tip, placing it at her opening, slowly descending onto him, feeling her intimate muscles stretch at the size of him, getting used to the intrusion, still extremely sensitive after the previous orgasm, biting her lower lips when she felt her walls pulsate and clench around him. 'Fuck...more'

Sakura felt two muscled arms securely folded around her waist, keeping her body captive above Sasuke`s own, lost into his flickering with an unusual light black sapphire eyes. He was eying her like a dark feline following his prey.

And he was gorgeous. He has always been breathtakingly beautiful.

So handsome.

'...say it, _scream_ it!' He upshot his hips roughly, while she rode them both to the same road of insanity and lust, finding their perfect rhythm.

She was desperately pulling her lower lip in between her canines to prevent more hoarse cries to erupt from her mouth while he went faster.

'...engaged...with him...'

'But you don't want him...'

'...you...ah...are wrong...'

'You want me'

'To please you'

'To fill you'

'Ahhh!'

'To cool down your fire'

'Stop'

'Tremble...into my arms'

Cross the point of no return

Give yourself to me

This is your **destiny**

'And you will not fight it'

* * *

Too dark and mysterious. A devious smirk. She blushed furiously at his lascivious voice, sensually articulating every syllable, making small tremors descend down her spine. 'Ride me'

'Sasuke...'

'Fuck me Sakura'

'Make love to me'

'Feel me'

Like you will never going to do to _another. _

Anyone beside him.

She started to move, burying him inside her, repeating the same synchrony over and over again.

Up and down.

Up and down.

'I am engaged' She let her palms caress his shoulders, tracing his collarbone, descending on his biceps, squeezing them, feeling the tiny veins inside the bulk muscles throb under her touch, aligning her forearms on his own, leaning until she was at the same level with his face.

**Gorgeous**.

She cupped his high cheeks with trembling hands and placed a soft kiss upon his cashmere lips slowly, gently, massaging the sweet skin, then slipping her tongue past his parted perfect teeth, drinking him, all the while she was pumping him.

She felt the corner of his lips curl up in a smirk at the feel of her so openly exploring him, palming her buttocks, rotating them, to part her more, thrusting deeper inside, bringing her body flush to his.

Sakura brought her torso down to rest on his broad toned chest, entangling their legs together, calves rubbing at each other, letting her body grind on his own, suddenly getting gentler, allowing her to set the pace she felt comfortable with and be in control.

'Do you like this' He deliberately rotated his hips slower, while she was pumping him, sensually, amused at the way her jade eyes were rolling under her partly shut eyelashes, barely able to speak. '...ah...yes...'

Sasuke let his palm glide up to her straight spine, the other encircling her small shoulders in a way Sakura grew to love and secretly crave for, while their hips were waving together, instinctually.

Sakura felt her emerald eyes pool with happy tears. They were making love and they did it so out of time and physical perception, that was making her feelings for him spread inside her stomach and chest like delicate ladybirds, resting into the back of her throat, in the form of a tight lump.

'_Come_ with me. _Run_ with me.'

An invitation. To insanity.

They will drink champagne. And he is going to write his name on her skin.

In _lust_.

In want, in need. She _wanted_ him, but couldn't have it.

He was _not an angel_.

'Sakura...you want me'

'You will always going to run into my arms'

'...no...I'

'I can give you what you want'

'Everything he cannot give...I shall make it happen'

'Sasuke'

'I love the way you say my name'

'I want to hear it again'

Again

And again

'In my home'

'In my bedroom'

'In my pool'

'In my car'

'On my ship'

* * *

The **cruise**. Her life was in his hands. And he will take her all just for himself. Because he could and he wanted it.

He was _not allowed_ to get attached by her, but he couldn't deny. Her skin, her smell-while lilies and honey, pure like her heart-she came to him willingly.

Cross the **bridge** willingly.

'He gave me a _ring_...'

He stopped, onyx eyes following the small golden band around her finger. His eyebrows furrowed at the sight.

A ring.

A symbol of _**unity**_...in life in lust in death and after death.

_Tie_ your soul with me until the birds for death are going to sing.

The bell of the **church**

A devilish smirk brew on his handsome face, the request simple, yet meaning the world to her.

'Throw it away'

'I said yes'

'I say no'

'I can't Sasuke. I can't leave all behind and come with you.'

'But you came.' He used his index to bring her chin up, emerald crushing with smoldering pearl black.

'For this'

'For me and for you'

'I want this to stop. There was never us'

'You are selfish'

Sakura lifted her hand to trace the sharp contour of his perfectly carved jaw line, leaning in to capture the ambrosia tasting velvet lips she grew to love so much. It was Sasuke to pull back, looking at her in confusion.

'You cannot escape'

'You will always come back to me. They all come back Sakura. Everything comes back to you at some point in life.'

'Please don't tell me.'

'To leave you. Even if I cannot come with you.'

'Because I don't want anyone that is not you.'

I am loosing my vision.

Love.

Desire.

Happiness.

They all fly away from me.

And the horizon turned red...like blood...like him

'Sakura'

'I'm _trapped_…'

'**Sasuke'**

* * *

II.

A pink haired lady was making her way through the crowded hall, her high heels echoing on the marble floor she was barely touching, looking like she was flying in the direction of the exit, slipping a hand on her bag, roaming inside to find what she was looking for.

"Aha…there you are." She smiled contently, going behind the tall building of her University, joining the mass of students smoking and chatting intently, lighting up a cigarette, putting it in between her pastel pink glossy lips, dragging lazily, letting her back rest on the wall, the other hand folded around her waist, looking aimlessly at the angry autumn clouds that were covering the sun.

'Summer days are long gone.'

"And so I met this totally enchanting guy that…" She heard a beautiful golden haired lady approaching her with large strides, rambling about her newest crush, to the other equally blonde haired interlocutor who was not actually listening to what she had to say.

Cerulean eyes were following the direction of the most lavender orbs he has ever seen, totally entrapped by the beautiful owner, watching her come beside her friends, brushing a lock of her dark hair behind her ear, delicately.

Her two friends came in front of Sakura, filling her in with the latest news, while she was enjoying her cigarette.

She didn't need to hide from them, like she did from her mother, they too sporting the same hobbies, not wasting time in pulling out their own cigarettes. Ino handed her a hot latte caramel macchiato, carrying on with her story.

"...and he told me that we should move together. And we have barely met! Can you believe it?" She flailed her hands in the air like a frustrated diva, attracting a lot of attention towards her.

Ino Yamanaka has always been Miss Popularity ever since she was in kindergarten, but no one could have blamed her.

She had the body shape of a wine glass, her luscious hair and complementing azure eyes were giving her an innocent beat, and her independent strong attitude never ceased, college being no exception.

Whenever she went, the blonde was outstanding.

A pair of emerald eyes were looking at her tiredly, a fine eyebrow rose in question. Whenever Ino opened her mouth, she would never stop.

Like another blonde she was friends with. "And that would make him like...I don't know...the one hundred guy that told you this?"

"Add one more." Ino sipped her own dark coffee, smirking down at the two people in front of her. They both hid something from her, doing their best to look interested. Traitors. "Kiba came with the suggestion as well."

"Do tell me you refused him." It was just something weird about that guy's attitude that didn't sit right with Sakura, and it totally had nothing to do with his obsession for dogs, though that played an important role as well.

Maybe it was his totally demanding and loud attitude the one to determine Sakura to put him the label of loser, not actually Ino`s style.

"Totally! I mean...a future vet? No just...no" The blonde shook her head energetically, making her point clear, her long ponytail following the motion and flowing like silk behind her back, hitting her shoulders.

Among the sea of hungry eyes following her every step, Sakura has managed to spot a certain two years older lazy genius that passed their small group, not sparing them a glance. "Then what about an engineer?"

A small blush crept on Ino`s face, letting her baby blue eyes rest on her object of interest. She smiled genuinely at the sight of him chatting with his class mates, in that casual but totally alluring manner that made her insides squirm in joy. "Shikamaru is just a friend."

"But you don't want to remain platonic. Temari plans to invite him to the carnival."

Ino`s eyes widened in shock, voice raised an octave. She sounded like a scared banshee. "No she did not..."

"She even chose a costume to match..." Sakura leaned her head in the direction of her friend, whispering the words in her face like she was disclosing the route towards a sacred treasure. It was, in a way.

Ever since she fell for him-hard if Sakura was to be honest-Shikamaru Nara, student in his last year at engineering and technology never showed her any interest, despite her friend's failed attempts to catch his eye.

"...no...no...no..." Two palms were fanning over the reddened face of Ino, who felt like hyperventilating. She immediately threw her half consumed cigarette, stomping on it, fuming.

That couldn't have happened. Temari was the only girl she saw spending enough time in Shikamaru`s company to give the others enough reasons to suspect they were in some kind of love affair.

"...Colombina...a tight corset...lace lingerie...black net socks…blue feather mask to match his own costume..."

"Over my dead body! Excuse me kids. This chick has some work to do."

Not even paying her friends goodbyes, she blew her long hair over her shoulder, turning around and marching towards the parking lot, leaving two laughing at her antics best friends friends.

Future could wait. She had a hot guy, who was not giving her the attention she looked for, to lure and that took time. Two weeks if she was to count down the days.

Sakura screamed after her, much to Naruto`s entertainment. He "Just don't overdo it with the glitter. Don't forget purple is making your legs look longer!"

"She is hopeless." The Uzumaki shook his head in disbelief.

"I think is cute."

Sakura caught the sight of something moving at the corner of her eyes, feeling someone watching them intently.

Hinata Hyuga was looking towards their group, her stare shyly following the boy beside her. She smirked at the oblivious blonde. "She likes you."

Naruto turned his head over his shoulder to catch the pretty girl pointing her fingers in that unique way together, like she did whenever she was nervous, grinning at her.

Hinata quickly looked some other place, ashamed she was caught staring. "You are imagining things."

Ah Sakura so did.

She was a dreamer.

Of those eyes.

Of a pair of soft soft lips.

Silky touches

Of his strong arms around her waist.

Sasuke

Sasuke

Sasuke

She dreamt of him that night. And the night before, although the one that was supposed to haunt her mind, was her fiancé, Sai.

He invited her to his parents for dinner. A dinner she dreaded to go to.

Sai was her lover. Heck he asked her to be his fiancé. Not really asked, more like demanded in that bored cold tone of his that made her insides turn murderous, and she had no choice but agree to him. And her mother has been nagging her enough.

Sasuke was just a fantasy…a dream.

"She is looking at you."

"Do I have something on my face?"

"Don't be a fool. Invite her to the party, before someone else does it." It was true. Hinata was really popular for her angelic demeanor and delicate features.

Also, she was the heiress of the famous rich Hyuga family, so the social status quite came with the name.

Maybe that was the reason why the usually outgoing and orphan Naruto was choosing to be in denial of his feelings towards her.

"No...no...I can't. She is...a goddess… an angel...I am the beggar that can only stay away and marvel at her glow."

"You are an idiot. She is interested in you. Look at her. Oh my, she is blushing. Do you want me to talk to her?'

Cerulean eyes widened in panic, adrenaline rushing down his veins. "No!"

"This is an yes." Sakura smiled innocently at him, winking, hands folded in front of her chest.

Naruto bit his lower lip, messing his spiky locks with his fingers, looking at Sakura with those puppy eyes that made her take pity of him. Love was a difficult thing, she so knew. "Ask her if she...what she thinks about me."

"And if she thinks I am cute."

"And if she likes mint chocolate...or violet lilies."

He gripped the girl`s beside him shoulders, clinging to her for dear life. Sakura laughed at his antics.

He looked just like a small lost kids that was searching for the lost Teddy Bear and cotton candy. "And if she is going with someone else to the carnival!"

"Haha ok ok I got it. Jeez you should send her a love letter."

A small frown. "Isn't this old fashioned?"

"What do you think?"

"That she is quite the romantic type."

"Then do it."

"Ok."

"Great! See? Problem solved."

"...after you talk to her."

Sakura exhaled deeply, rubbing her tired emerald eyes with her palms, feeling the artificial lightning inside the cafeteria making her eyes sting. "Naruto… "

"Sakura?"

"I don't know how to write a love letter." Oh, that was the problem. At least Naruto was always honest with the others. Maybe that was the reason why everyone trusted him and viewed him as a true friend.

.

_Lilies_

.

* * *

Because she always searched for love, but it never came. And when it did, it swallowed her all.

There were many advice and romantic lines Sakura wanted to say, but she found herself unable to voice them out.

Maybe she was slightly jealous of him, because she was not able to be with a certain someone and whisper the words to him every night, while being trapped into his arms and watch the shooting stars.

Say you love her.

Say you want her.

Say you like the violets smell of her hair.

Say you like her angelic smile.

Tell her she makes you happy.

Tell her you want to cover her in roses.

White roses

White

Pure

Uncorrupted

"I don't know how to either."

Because she only got red.

Red roses.

Red kisses. Red touches. Red silk. Even his bed sheets...were having the color of death...and passion.

Because he fulfilled her darkest desires.

And Sakura wanted to cross the bridge and be his.

Sai would have never accept her feelings if she was to offer them to him, not like she had any to begin with, and the man that made her heart flutter and knees turn into melting lava didn't need to hear them, because he was able to read from her open book conscience.

Her shimmering garnet gemstones were mirroring her soul and emotions perfectly.

Sakura took one last drag from her cigarette, throwing the small butt on the ground, stepping on it and finishing her coffee, emerald eyes looking at the wrist watch, muttering a 'Shit' at the late time it shown.

"Leaving already? Don't you have anymore classes?"

"Yeah. I have to go to the hospital to complete the practice part."

"Sounds like a lot of work to do. Tiring as well."

"I know, but it is my future dream job after all." She couldn't have been more sarcastic than that.

True, there was a certain point in her life when Sakura dreamed of proudly hear the Hippocratic oath come out of her mouth, while she would be a famous surgeon at the top hospitals, but she soon realized it didn't tempt her that much anymore.

"Then who am I to stop you?"

* * *

III.

**The Raven**

* * *

It didn't matter how many times she would walk down that road, she would still never found it appealing.

Loud chattering around, sweating people hurrying to their respective jobs, not having time to stop for a second and take a deep breath, rushed cars, boring and depressing just like a cold November rain.

A gentle cool breeze blew through her long pink tresses and clothes, sending a quick shiver down her spine. Gold mixed with crimson red was decorating the majestic chestnuts leaves, dancing around her, creating the perfect picture of an autumn landscape. Sakura heard a raven croak on a higher branch.

She stopped for a second, looking at the way the bird seemed to follow her moves. The dark creature had something utterly familiar and enchanting. Like an icicle puncturing down her veins. Both mind numbing and pleasurable.

She was crazy.

Midnight feathers…soft, smooth under her finger tips…her palms started to sweat.

She was reminded of him again.

Sasuke.

Sakura fastened her peace, folding her opened Trench coat tightly to her body, the hospital coming into her view. She didn't like the feeling in the air.

There was something to those grey angry looking clouds and weak sunlight that made her…anxious. Like a sepia portrait she would find in her grandma's attic.

At 25 years old, Sakura Haruno was an aspiring doctor with a very common life. She was living with an always complaining about her mother, who worked as a paintings seller, hence the way she met Sai's family, having friends that only fancied expensive champagne and Belgian chocolate.

People who believed girls like her were not worth mentioning in their genealogic three or be associated to them.

When Sakura found out her mother planned an arranged marriage-on Christmas last year-she became hopeful for the future, entrusting her life in the hands of fate and that was the reason why she has accepted to be Sai's date to a luxury arts exhibition party, and try to enter his exclusive world and circle of friends.

They all frowned and talked behind her back when they saw she was not holding her cup of tea properly and was not ordering caviar in a fluent French.

And Sai did nothing to defend her, even going as far as to laugh at her and the 'unfortunate blind dates parents torture their children with' abandoning her at the dinner, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and harsh words thrown at her.

But apparently destiny had other plans for her when she found herself on the balcony, alone and watching shooting stars. Ah, it was that period of time.

'Sweet memories of the high hopes he gave me...not'

But when Sakura decided it was time to let her voice be heard and make her own decisions, namely leaving the party and the people that didn't want her there -she didn't want to be there either-turning on her heels and make a run for it, fate made her realize that maybe little things in life might not be just simple coincidences.

Her breath hitched in her throat and an unfamiliar fluttering warm feeling of untamed butterflies bloomed in the pits of her stomach.

That was the moment when she met _him. _

_Mysterious, alluring, powerful and confident like a Crown Prince and impossibly gorgeous._

The way his lean rippled muscles were molding under the expensive black suit he wore, his tall and proud attitude, the nonchalance in the way he was keeping his hands into his pockets, his pale soft skin glowing in the moonlight, the skilful precision in the sharp lines of his jaw and high cheeks, a gentle breeze playing into his midnight jet unruly spikes, longer locks falling sexily into impossible sapphire black eyes, and a small smirk decorating his soft thin lips.

He was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. Everyone was looking at him gawking, her included, while he approached her slowly, sinfully alluring, like a black puma, keeping the vulnerable gazelle rooted into her place.

_A name that promised dark desires, raw passion and fulfillment._

Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

.

.

.

'Alone?'

'No. I am with my date.'

'Date? Who?'

'Sai Tanaka.'

'A boring man...for such an exquisite lady'

'And you?'

'I have a company of a beautiful flower.'

'Oh.'

'Want to meet her?'

'I don't know if I...'

'She is right in front of me. Though she should have more trust in her'

'You are a smooth talker. Are you a player?'

'Do you want to find out?'

'I think I should go and find my...'

'Let's go somewhere else.' A velvet smooth rich voice that sent every sane woman into oblivion, made Sakura`s body temperature rise.

'W-what? I think you have misunderatoo-'

'You wanted to leave anyways.'

'I don't want to be here'

'Wha-'

'I don't belong here'

'I see him flirting with a woman that is richer and more beautiful than me.' He was reading her mind.

'How do you-'

'He is ashamed with me.'

'Stop, no-'

'Come with me.'

'I-'

'Sakura...only blooms in spring'

'...' He knew her name. But she didn't knew his.

* * *

IV.

As soon as she entered the familiar white building, her nostrils were hit by the pungent smell of disinfectant. She went straight to the reception, smiling politely at the dark haired woman, who already knew she was going to be there.

"Hello Sakura. How is your day?"

"Hello, Shizune. The same old boring routine."

"I see. Maybe you are going to find something entertaining to do today."

"Really? Like what?"

Shizune raised her index in the direction of two doctors carrying an elder down the elevator, in a wheelchair. His head was awkwardly lolling on his shoulder and his eyes were darting in all directions.

Sakura turned around to face the brunette, eyebrows curled up, dumbfounded. Not him again. "Are you serious?"

"Hey. It is either him or some old dude going into cardiac arrest at the second floor. These are the shows today. I am paying for the ticket. You bring soda and popcorn."

"Stop saying such things Shizune. It is not funny."

"Meh, such is life." Shizune shrugged once, placing some documents in front of the pink haired girl, handing her a pan. "Sign here and here..."

"People die every three seconds. Such is life and nothing lasts forever."

Sakura rolled her eyes, returning the papers to the expectant woman, already making her choice.

The mental deranged patient has once been a gentle reputed man and a proud father. She took pity on him. "You are a mood lifter."

"That is Orochimaru`s job. I just have to sign papers and fake a cheerful tone on the phone."

"Why him?"

"I don't know. He is the psychiatrist." Dr. Orochimaru was the head doctor of the Department of Psychiatry from the School of Clinical Medicine in the University of Konoha. In his field, he was the best of the best.

And he usually took students to train them, under his wing. But everyone knew he only accepted the best. Sakura was one of them.

"Then you should pay him a visit too. I am going."

"To the second floor?"

"Nah. I have no interest in death so far. It is the mental deranged patient for me."

Shizune shouted at a heading towards the elevator Sakura, making her giggle. Ever since the pink haired girl started practice at the hospital, she got quite friendly with some of the doctors and the cheerful receptionist.

"Find yourself a boyfriend Sakura! Loneliness is getting to you. I don't want to see you surrounded by a lot of cats in the future."

"Cats? I totally _love _them."

* * *

V.

Was it better to deal with insanity than death, Sakura wondered while she witnessed the psychiatrist examining the patient.

He was lying on the bad, unmoving, with the stoic doctor noting something down his file, while his sharp eyes were studying his vital signs, darting from the beeping monitors to his limp body.

She was writing down his personal data, just like her professor required. She needed a high mark if she hoped to keep her scholarship. Those fees were huge and her mother, Mebuki, already made it clear that she was not going to use her own money to pay her daughter's too expensive studies.

Her all concern was to see her married into a rich family and give her a lot of nephews.

"Midori Mizuki…male…fifty three years old, born on the 1st of August 1961, suffering from Frontotemporal dementia…"

Orochimaru`s smooth voice interrupted her train of thoughts, making her rise her emerald eyes in his direction.

He was frowning tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose, heading towards the door. "Sakura, I am leaving him with you for a moment. I hope you are not feeling…uncomfortable. But you want to be a doctor so I guess you should get used to it.""

"He looks…_serene_." Sakura turned around to look at the unresponsive patient, guessing he was sedated to alleviate his suffering, her gaze softening at the sight of him, not quite catching the meaning behind the doctor's words.

"Well what can I say, he is not going to harm you or anyone in his state."

"Be right back."

Sakura followed the door closing with a loud thud and the Professor's barking orders echoing through the crowded hall, probably at people to stop wander aimlessly and do more job. He was always the last to exit the Department.

A feared, detested by most of his colleagues, but a genius of his generation and a hard working man he was.

Sakura returned her attention towards the patient, dragging her chair closer to his bad, sitting. Amber eyes were studying her face, in a calm manner.

Then he smiled like they were friends chattering. Sakura was surprised to learn he was in fact, awake. He totally fooled her.

"I know you." His hoarse voice startled her. Usually, he would shout or laugh, but that moment, he looked…different. There was something about that old man that made a thick lump rise on Sakura`s throat. Distress. She was not afraid. Only…nervous.

"Me?" She pointed her thumb to her chest, jade eyes looking surprised in the direction of the elder's soft smile.

She could have sworn he didn't look like a person with dementia at all…his aura was…radiating…he felt different…but she couldn't say exactly in what way.

He nodded energetically giggling like a happy kid going to the Zoo with his parents. His illness was affecting the motor neurons. He had the psychological age of a three years old.

And to think the man in front of her has once been a history and religion famous professor at University of Tokyo and an Associate professor at Cambridge University…how could life laugh at some people, Sakura realized in panic. Human race was fragile in the hands of the unmerciful fate.

"Hair."

"This? Pink? You recognize me by this?"

"Green yes. So pretty. Like diamonds. _He_ told me diamonds are rare to find."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Talking with patients like that was a difficult task, because their behavior was unsteady and they usually made no sense at all. "He? You mean Dr Orochimaru?"

"No! It was a secret. I am **not allowed** to talk about that. Please don't tell him I told you!" Unique chestnut mixed with forest green rolled over the room he was in, but looked like he was not able to perceive the physical space, because they looked unfocused.

"I won't I…ah…promise?" Sakura felt her heartbeat pump faster, adrenaline mixing into her blood.

She shifted her legs uncomfortably, gripping her pen tighter, feelings the back of her hands already damp in cold sweat. What was that feeling all of sudden? That man…

His eyes returned to her face once again. "You are very beautiful."

"Thank you."

His sentences were dreamy and his smile never ceased. Why was he that happy anyways? "And kind."

"Do you like to _dance_? What is your favorite _flower_? I like _red wine_." He lowered his chin on his chest making a brief pause in his speech, like trying to form coherent sentences. He has already been suffering from dementia for 10 years…alone. "**WHITE MAGNOLIAS** only bloom in **spring**…" his eyes fell sad to the ground.

What was that man talking about, because Sakura couldn't understand a word. But maybe intuition made her take down notes of what he was saying, just like Orochimaru did when dealing with his patients.

She tried to look as professional as she could, not faltering. Those kind of people needed to feel secure, she was aware.

"Do you like magnolias?" He found himself asking her absentmindedly. What was interesting was his lack of motion.

Never once did the man moved since he started to talk to her, which was weird. Maybe he indeed was sedated.

She nodded once, taking down the information. Magnolia…it was quite a rare sight in their country and Sakura had troubles in picturing the delicate flower.

He resumed his talking. "I like them now. There are plenty out there. This music…Muzio Clementi was my daughter's favorite. She played the _violin_." Tears were blooming at the corner of his eyes. He didn't seem crazy and his face was enlightened and pale. Like an angel's.

"You taught her? To play the instrument, that is."

He shook his head. "No. My wife did. Such _grace_… She is so beautiful in white. Like _snow_. Green green eyes…."

The patient turned his head over his shoulder, looking straight into Sakura`s widened emerald eyes. "…**innocence**…" his voice came out feather like.

"Don't lose it child."

"Keep it."

**Virtue**

Keep it

Hold it dearly

'Give it.'

She blinked once, realizing he shut his eyes. Maybe the poor man was tired and she has prevented him from sleeping. Sakura felt guilty. She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Mr. Midori?"

But her shoulders stiffened and she straightened her pose when Orochimaru barged in, followed by another doctor she didn't recognize.

She stood up, making place for them to come beside the fell asleep patient. They acted a bit…suspicious.

"How did it happen?"

The other man that accompanied Dr. Orochimaru did a basic checkup on his vitals, noting down something Sakura couldn't see from that position, but she was too shy to ask.

Orochimaru folded his arms on his chest, shrugging casually. "Brain death. His illness lasted ten years long. More than I would have expected."

"He suffered enough."

"They all do. Lost his family. Poor man."

"Maybe he reunited with them….somewhere…"

Sakura didn't like where the conversation was heading. Why did they act like he was…

"He looks happy." The mysterious doctor remarked with a small smirk. He was putting a white band around the dementia suffering elder's wrist, noting something on it in black permanent marker. A number, Sakura realized.

Orochimaru massaged his neck, looking down at his colleague. "That was creepy…"

"What are you…" Sakura felt like someone has knocked the wind out of her lungs when she realized what exactly were the two doctors doing. The one she couldn't recognize…

Orochimaru was telling him what to write on the file…his file…how…why? "Write down:

Name:Midori Mizuki

Age: fifty three

Department: Psychiatry"

"Dr. Orochimaru I have something to…" A wave of panic surged through Sakura and she felt her mouth going dry, not able to properly voice out her fright.

"…hour of _death_: 6:32 pm."

Shock. She looked down at her notes spread on the marble floor. Sakura was not able to move an inch, petrified. She felt her vision cloud all of sudden and the room started to spin.

That couldn't have happened. No way. It was impossible.

When Orochimaru left her twenty minutes ago…the man has already been dead.

_Dead._

He was dead.

The elder was dead and he spoke to her!

"The notes…he talked to me…" Sakura shoved her fingers down her hair, shaking her head in disbelief.

She caught the attention of the two other occupants in the room.

Dr. Orochimaru…and the _legist_!

"What? What is that?"

"He….his wife…his daughter…he told me…and he was not crazy….Dr. Orochimaru I…"

"I have not imagined it." It was the truth. Sakura could have clearly remembered every detail of his bathed in light face and peaceful demeanor. There was no way she would forget or even worse imagined it.

Orochimaru looked impassive, probably tired of dealing with such symptoms each moment of his life. The legist looked like he was skeptical about her mental state. "It might be stress getting the best of you."

"Youngsters should take it easier. Too much learning without proper breaks for sleep and eat can bring anyone down."

"B-but Dr. Oro…"

"Go home and rest. You can come tomorrow and complete your file."

"…."

"He told me I am pretty."

"He used to do that….when he was alive. Tsunade got his marriage proposal. Such a famous professor. She will never get this lucky."

Orochimaru smirked down at much younger medicine student, seeing his own self in her, during his own college years. They were all like that: a pile of nerves, angry tears and high hopes.

"Maybe I fell asleep and _dreamt_…" She tried to reason.

"It can happen. You look tired."

'I am _tired_'

"Maybe it was just a dream."

'Am I dreaming now as well?' Where were those thoughts coming from? It was not like Sakura has ever been poetic.

It was the Legist the one to answer her, taking her by surprise. "Of course."

"I think he dreams too. Look at his eyes rolling. His body is going to pass out as well." That doctor was…weird and scary. Just like his job.

"Maybe. **This is how ****it**** starts after all**….**as a dream**." Orochimaru stated as a matter of fact, turning his back to remove the IVs and the wires from the dead body.

"What starts?" Sakura found herself asking, mentally cursing her voice for coming more like a whisper.

"**DEATH**."

Sakura felt the tiny hair of her forearms and nape rise at the chills the mere thought, not liking how that sounded. She found herself hold the notes she dropped on her chest and back away from the room. "Goodbye Dr. See you tomorrow."

And left. She couldn't stay there because for an unknown reason…she felt like hyperventilating and suffocating, the events starting to take a toll on her.

It was dark outside but she didn't even stay that much. She had a seminar at 20:00 she couldn't afford to lose.

'Damn'

It was _raining_. Heavens were tearing.

.

.

.

* * *

VI.

A gas lamp she got from her _grandma_.

A wooden box covered in spider webs with her mother's wedding dress, red lacquer retro high heels, a sepia portrait of her graduation prom, an old broken pickup. Memories of a past time. What would it feel like for time to never pass?

Sakura turned the radio on and messes with the stations. Two cracked eggs mixied into the frying pan. The flicker of the stove. Ham and cheese imported from Holland.

It was raining hard that night. She would not learn. She will watch romantic movies and drink hot tea and eat mint chocolate. Maybe Breakfast to Tiffany's.

Alone

Loneliness

Onyx eyes

His…

'When I am with Sasuke _time __doesn't pass_

I realized that nothing can be born from indifference.

Pure passion and love needs roots to bloom.

And the seed was planted inside my heart by a man with raven hair and black eyes.

Someone that is not Sai. My fiancé.

The one who sent me my engagement ring via post mail.

He is not he home I want to go back to.

And this is why my high heels echo through the so familiar autumn sepia painted alley to the old white and ho mansion.

To find the way of the wind.

To _his_ arms

The sole love I would accept into my heart.

His onyx eyes

HIM.

* * *

.

.

.

Riiiiing Riiiiing

Watching. Lusting. Haunting.

She didn't love him. Not when there was another pair of mesmerizing eyes waiting for her.

"Sai?"

"_Were you sleeping?"_

"No. I was working on some patient's of mine file. He…" Emerald eyes fell to the sheet of paper she was gripping, trying to shove away the nagging memory. Was she going insane as well? "…died today."

A bored tone that betrayed nothing came from the other side of the line. Sai was not the man to either care for the others or feel pity. In his own bubble, there was only him and him alone.

Indifference. That was how he was treating his new fiancé as well. And he was not even bothering to hide from her or act polite.

That was just the façade he used to appear in his high society. His own personal circle of rich friends she would never have access too. Sakura was too…common. That was why he told her…more than once.

"_Oh. You should not take it personal. Everyone dies at some point of time. You are an aspiring doctor. You should know better."_

A crystal tear rolled over her small rosy cheek, jade eyes burning with frustrating salty liquid. She brushed a hand through her messy pink haired tresses, looking for something to drink. Something strong, yet sweet and gentle.

A _red_ silk scarf, _red_ lipstick, _retro_ music, _red_ sun glasses white polka dots silk dress.

Her vintage car. Her grandmother's. God, Sakura has loved that woman. She has been so kind and loving with her niece. People were happier those days. Picnic in the forest on Sunday. Plum jam sandwiches, margarine and milk chocolate hot cocoa.

The times when people had no inhibition and time waited for anybody to catch up.

Sakura found out that there were many people that wanted to give her something and pretended something from her.

**Red wine**.

The drink of the noble.

_**His**_ favorite drink.

Like fresh _flesh _and burning _blood_.

Decisions

Decisions

They came with huge responsibilities.

"Yeah, I know. I am sorry to nag you with _my_…problems. How is London?"

"_It is ok, as long as you don't do it too often. Rainy I guess. The auction turned out better than I thought. I met the Crown Prince and the Queen at the varnishing day. Such a fine sense of art they have."_

Sakura rolled her eyes at that. Fascinating…no.

She was bored. Of him, of his lack of tact, of his dream always coming in between them and his lack of display of feelings towards her. "Sounds great…I guess."

She wanted out. And she knew exactly what she wanted.

A pair of strong arms to hold her, a strong chest to kiss, a hot body pressed on her own, exposed, debauched and sensual.

Stolen kisses, lustful touches, a rollercoaster of passion and unshed emotions.

Sasuke.

His number was imprinted into her mind and speed dial. She only had to hang up on her…_fiancé_. It sounded so foreign and…not right. He was not the right man for her.

"_Great? I think you don't understand the importance of the…"_

"Please stop talking about that. I am so tired and I don't think I can…properly follow this topic."

"_Whatever. Mother called me. She wants to see us for dinner on Friday when I come back."_

Great. That woman never liked Sakura, because in her vision, she was ugly, her hair was weird and looked too rebel to blend in the high society-their high society-and most of all, she was from the middle class. "Will your dad be there as well?"

"_Yes. We are going to discuss about our engagement party…among other things."_

She felt her mind throb, a headache rising to her temples. "What other things?"

She heard Sai exhale deeply, sounding annoyed. She hated his superior attitude and the way he considered himself better than anyone else.

Like the others were filth under his branded shoe. _"Sakura…you know how this is going to end. We will eventually get married someday and it is better to not prolong things unnecessary. When you finish med school and start working, we should consider that as well. I think we should take that important step you seem so afraid of and move together."_

She felt like she has been stabbed with a sharp blade down her chest. Moving with him as in…living with him? All day and all…night? In the same house?

Sharing a room, _a bed, a life….her life…_

No. No. No….her heart was thumping madly down her chest. All that she wanted was to _run away_ from him, not live with him, damn it! "I think we should wait until we get married though. People would talk."

"_People already talk Sakura. I don't care about what your little friends say, but my relatives are mocking my family for not finding myself a future bride. Try not to embarrass me."_

That hurt. She never heard a soothing word from him when she most needed. She dreaded the upcoming Friday already.

No one supported her. She was…alone. "Don't you dare insulting my friends you bastard…"

"_What?"_

"Listen, I think I hear my mother calling me. I am going to call you later, ok? Good. Bye."

And hung him up, throwing her phone right on the opposite wall, fisting her hands into her hair, pulling roughly backwards.

"Fucking idiot…" He was always making her cry.

_Always. _

And he didn't even care. Not even when she had pneumonia and was two weeks hospitalized, not when she passed her most difficult exam in Anatomy with flying colors and not when he took away her virginity.

She shuddered at the thought while her steps were taking her in the direction of the home phone. That was _the worst_ night of her life.

So much pain and blood. No pleasure whatsoever, just agony agony and more agony. Sakura would have pleased to never cross paths with him.

But she was so close in making up her mind. She had to, because it was not like life would have waited for her to decide.

With shaking hands, Sakura dialed the number she knew by heart, sobbing and gluing her shoulder on the cold wall, twirling the white spiral cable, praying he would answer.

She needed someone to not pretend to touch her, while thinking to some stupid work of art. She needed someone to _accept_ her. _Want_ her.

_Acknowledge_ her existence, even though she knew she was not worth much. But a commoner…she was not.

Sakura`s heart skipped a beat when the comforting rich baritone voice graced her hearing, instantly feeling surged with the familiar emotion of wanting and longing. God she missed him so bad. _"Sakura."_

He didn't say Hello or Hy. He said her name and he rolled it so deliciously sinful that it made her feel hot. "Sasuke. Where are you?"

"_Where do you want me to be?"_

"Are you home? Office? In town? Please…I want to see you."

A dark chuckle vibrated through the speaker. _"How much?"_ Oh he so knew. Sakura felt her cheeks glowing red, unconsciously slipping a hand under her nightgown to rub her stomach, reminded by his touch. He had that effect on her.

"Sasuke…" She grew impatient, forest green eyes following the direction of the wall clock. 23:45.

Was it coincidence or a mere routine for them to always call each other at that hour? Why not 24:00? Was he turning into a pumpkin? Probably not, considering the way he looked like.

"_My home. I am waiting. I will always be waiting for you…Sakura."_

* * *

His home...the one that always had the distinctive cinnamon, vanilla roasted chestnuts Christmas fragrance.

She never felt the need to be pretty for Sai. For Sasuke on the other hand, she applied mascara to make her curly eyelashes longer, blush on her cheeks and a delicate pastel pink eye shadow. _Red lips_. Like crimson roses. She even curled her long rose hair. Because she knew he would notice. _Notice_ her.

Acknowledge and welcome her were presence around him, like she was welcoming him inside her body and soul. She felt the need to be special around him, try to be _sensual, seductive, daring_.

He had an eye for details and placed a confidence inside her heart like she never had. Sasuke returned her lost self confidence back to her. Around him, Sakura never felt humiliated or disrespected.

If she would give him a blow job, it was by her own choice .Every manner she chose to _touch_ him, _explore_ him, _feel_ him, was by the content of her heart. He never judged, nor stopped her and even reacted to her moans or tears.

Indifference. Sakura hated to be ignored. It just made her heart feel void. She got it from her mother, she got that from her teachers he got that from her fiancé-the man that was supposed to treasure her the most- but she didn't got it from Sasuke.

It was easy to be in his arms as long as she could clearly feel that she belonged there. Being with Sasuke felt as _natural _as a new born craving for his mother's touch. She felt reborn when he covered her in tender caresses and meaningful kisses.

A man of few words that did nothing at random.

He never forced her into anything she didn't feel ready to do.

Sasuke never once put his own desires first, like Sai did. He always asked her what she wanted to do and respected it and Sakura has never once feel ashamed to let him know how she felt.

There were times when she was emotional and depressed, asking him to hold her tight and whisper sweet soothing worlds into her ears.

How many nights has Sakura spent into his arms, crying until she felt her insides going dry, when she lied her mother that she overslept at Ino's?

She long lost the count of his mind-blowing delicious kisses. And he didn't mind her playing in his hair as long as it calmed her.

Other times, she would come to his house or office, wanting to forget how awful her life was and how the others tried to pull her strings, shouting out loud that she was not a puppet and ask him to fuck her brains out and bring her to oblivion.

And he complied, making her forget everything, taking her body _rough _and _carnal_, until all she was able to focus on were his onyx flaming eyes and his screamed in ecstasy name.

Sasuke was...**salvation**.

A salvation that came to her an year ago and no matter how much she tried to deny it, she found herself unable to.

One year ago, she has been promised to a dark haired man.

And one year ago, she **gave herself entirely** to another.

"I will make it in fifteen."

"_I am going to make you lose the sense of time."_

She smirked at that one, tracing her lower lip with the tip of her tongue, already on her way to the door, only taking her purse, some cash, a red lipstick and her car keys. Sai was part of her daily uninteresting life that started to suffocate her mind.

Sasuke was part of her most desirable fantasies. The only one that could make her feel

**Alive. **

* * *

VII.

"Sakura, why are you…"

Not even waiting for Sasuke to open the front door wider, Sakura threw herself at him, crushing her lips on his, in a bruising unruly kiss, like she wanted to eat him out alive, desperation and need, everything written in the way she was pressing her much smaller frame into his tightening around her muscled arms.

**Protection. Care. Desire. **

The only place she knew she would get that…was _his_ home. They stumbled back inside entangled into each other's exploring arms, while Sakura was fumbling with the first buttons of his white shirt, revealing the lean collarbones, tearing the expensive silk material open, and tossing it on the floor aimlessly, hooking her arms around his neck, tiptoeing to bring her face on the same level with his, venturing her greedy tongue further, deepening their kiss.

Sasuke`s hands were massaging her lower back, tracing the texture of the satin gown that was melting sensually over her curvaceous body, unfolding the fabric belt around her waist to reveal the black lace see through lingerie she wore, that only enhanced her nakedness and pearl creamy skin, for his hungry eyes to see.

Sasuke had troubles grasping what could have happened to Sakura, to determine her to come to him dressed in her nightgown, like she was a runaway teenager, on such a bad weather. Nonetheless, he knew what she wanted. It was written all over her harsh movements.

He palmed her soft breast over the thin fabric of the lace bra she wore, squeezing it gently, seeing how her cleavage deepened under his touch, her rosy erect nipple perking up, poking through the soft hand of his palm and begging to be stimulated.

"Ahhhh…Sasuke…please…more…I want more…"

"Sakura"

Another hand ventured in between her long, bare, toned legs, where tiny pink curls were visible from the lace tiny thong, flicking his index over her lower lips, rubbing her in a lazy manner, feeling the soft warm skin moisten under his touch.

She pushed her hip more into his hands, moaning and panting heavily into his kiss, clearly wanting more.

After all, that was the reason why she always came back.

For _more_.

For everything no one else was able to give.

Only _him_.

And only to _her_.

'Sasuke please...'

'Take it easier.'

'I want you. I need you _now_.'

Sakura`s lips were tracing sloppy kisses on Sasuke`s sharp jaw, descending down his neck, gluing to his pulse, sucking on it until she imprinted her mark on him, while her hands were working on his pants, unbuckling the belt and harshly pulling them down to his knees, wasting no time in cupping his hardened bulge, confined by the navy boxers he wore, massaging him, making him growl deep into his chest.

"Take me please! Fuck me! Make love to me! Anything! Just do it now!" her voice came as a sad whisper, viridian sparkling irises boring into onyx ones, silently asking him to be with her, inside her, for her and make her feel.

**Something. Anything**.

**All**.

**Alive**.

"My room."

She nodded once, forcing his head down onto her lips, their tongues waltzing together, while he gripped her thighs to elevate her from the ground, making her support herself with her knees around his slim waist, ankles locked behind his back.

In what seemed like the blink of am eye, they were upstairs in the familiar golden regal room, lost into their own universe, where the only witness of the passing time was the old pendulum beside the fireplace, bodies grinding, mouths tasting, fingers memorizing each contour of their molding on each other skins.

.

.

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* * *

Sakura`s torso was squashed on the silk black and crimson mattress, her hands limp on her sides, resting on her elbows, while Sasuke`s hands were holding her hips in place, thrusting into her core from the behind, fucking her brains out, going deeper and deeper, each jerk of his hips growing wildly, making her see stars, each time pulling himself out of her completely, then filling her in up to he hilt, the sound of his grunts and their splashing dripping juices were echoing through her mind, moans and screams filling the stillness of the large house.

"Argh….S-Sasuke!"

Sakura found herself too lost in bliss to even scream his name, her moans came out as tired and muffled my the bed sheets she was gripping for dear life.

She had tremors all over her arms and thighs, the muscles on her lower regions were clamping painfully and her spine was paralyzed by electric jolts surging through her with every move Sasuke did.

"You…have always been so t-tight, Sakura…fuck!"

Slick juices were tearing down her thigh each time he plunged his hard shaft in between her damp folds, ravaging her core, stretching her walls and making her lose her mind.

Sakura hooked her ankles up his calves, raising her back higher and pushing her lower body towards his hips, making the penetration deeper and allowing him to hit her sweet burning spot better from that position.

Sasuke got the chance to explore her inner walls deeper, feeling her muscles clench around his shaft. Suddenly she felt him pull back, making her whimper at the lost contact, but then he gave two quick slaps upon her buttocks, making her cry out at the sudden discharge of pleasure and pain, and without further notice, entered her from her ass, pumping her, while two of his fingers found her pussy, riding her at the same pace with his member, making her throw her head backwards, screaming and thrashing her body, squirming under his touch.

It was too much, she couldn't handle the way he was screwing her. She came violently after a few moments, feeling her muscles throb and her womb explode, her orgasm hitting her lower back, like a bursting in flames volcano, erupting from her most confined regions, discharging adrenaline and ecstasy right on her spine, in the most magnetizing way.

"…ahhhh…"

The room felt two times hotter and the scent of sex and sweating body hit her nostrils.

After two more thrusts Sasuke came too, riding his own orgasmic state inside her, emptying his warm seed into her body, folding his hands around her stomach, almost collapsing on the top of her, quickly rolling on his side, not to crush her with his weight, bringing half of her limp body to rest on the top of him.

"….that…was…a-amaz…amazing…"

"Aa."

Sakura smiled contently when she felt that carved in marble godlike body pressed so intimately on her much smaller one, sneaking her hand around his waist, resting her check on his chest, right above his racing heart, moaning dully when she felt him draw imaginary circles on her delicate shoulders, placing a chaste kiss on her forehead.

No, that was _not just sex_. She knew it. She felt it.

They were not only having a secret affair. They were living something deeper. More powerful in nature and spirit and it was hard to describe how Sakura felt in Sasuke`s embrace.

_Home. Family. Fulfillment_. She felt stronger into his arms...

_Roses_

* * *

**A shattered glass of wine**

* * *

Sasuke took his time to sip the glass of red wine, then place his moist lips upon Sakura`s, kissing her slowly, deeply, letting her taste the expensive old sweet beverage on his mouth, rolling her tongue under his to have a full experience of the fragrance, rubbing her knee on the inside of his lean muscled thigh, under the bed sheets covering them, fingers dancing into his incredibly silky raven locks.

For the past hours, all that they did was cuddle with each other, making Sakura feel like she exactly where she was supposed to, losing the track of time, listening to the droplets of cold October rain drum on the glass of the shut window.

Her skin was warm and goose bumps were prickling all over her forearms at the delicate way he was caressing her, letting her nuzzle the tip of her small nose under his chin, in the crock of his neck.

Sakura absolutely loved the fact that Sasuke had a large fireplace in his bedroom, creating a cozy atmosphere, so different from the cold, lonely confinement of her mother's home.

"Leave him."

"I can't"

"My mother wants me to..."

"Stop listening to the others telling you what to do."

Sasuke made a short pause in his speech, carefully considering his options.

"We can go to my house in Switzerland."

Sakura placed a soft kiss upon his pectoral, feeling the muscles ripple under her touch, and then relaxing in an instant.

"I want to Sasuke, I swear to God I want to but..."

"Not yet."

"You are not ready, are you?"

"I am _afraid_ Sasuke."

"Of me?"

"Of changes."

"Trying to live a life without regrets doesn't mean you are going to fail. It doesn't have to be a change for the worst."

"What if you are going to grow bored of me? Can you swear your feelings would be the same in ten years from now? Twenty?"

"Look at me."

She did. And Sakura wanted to cry at the sight of a glowing light radiating from his bottomless jet eyes, like a sparkling shooting star on the August's night sky.

"I am going to **love you** forever and I will be forever yours."

He trapped her lips in between her own, letting her know he was dead serious. Hurting her was out of question.

"Until _death_ is going to a separate us?" Sakura found herself foolishly joking, totally missing the way Sasuke`s shoulders stiffened for a brief.

A small smirk graced his gorgeous features at the display of oblivion. Naïve…so naïve and innocent…

Sasuke tilted his head to kiss her long delicate neck.

"And _even after_ that."

.

.

.

* * *

"Sasuke"

"What?"

"Do you think there is a place for us to have a brief encounter..._someday...somewhere…in time…by chance_?"

"I will reminisce that _white magnolias only bloom in __spring_. Sakura."


	2. Crystal butterflies dont age

'**While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.'**

_Leonardo da Vinci _

1

**-2-**

3

4

5

6

7

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**I.**

* * *

Sakura briskly unclad from the pastel orange silk dress she wore, as soon as she found herself into Sasuke`s room, remaining in only the navy lace lingerie she wore.

She knew that Sasuke found it arousing to pull down that garments down from her refined symmetric curves and she loved how his hands felt on her body.

And Sakura quietly entertained the idea of her getting naked first, role plying the Eve's predestined condition, while he was still dressed.

That form of psychological submission of being at his mercy sent her reeling into bliss. Foreplay was something Sasuke only did out of respect and care for her, because she was always wet and ready for him, as soon as their eyes met. He was that hypnotic.

"Do you remember the _first_ time we made love, Sakura? You told me I make you feel free. What is the thing you wish to escape from? What is the object of your ardent longings to spread your wings free and fly out of your cage?"

Sasuke palmed her bare shoulder, massaging the rounded delicate bone, smirking at the way it perfectly fit into his hand, curling his index down her chin, looking deeply into her forest green eyes.

"I...I don't know. This...you...everything...I think it is **life** itself."

"Life...do I make you feel alive, Sakura?" Teasingly, his hand descended sensually down her forearm, leaving cold shivers on her waist and hip bone, coming to rest in between her legs, rubbing her lower abdomen, pressing his fingertips on her inner lips.

She whimpered in pleasure. "Ahh...yes!"

"It is that good to feel...so alive? So much it burns?"

"Sasuke..."

"So much it plagues your dreams?" His thumb was circling her clit, while his lips were covering her jaw in wet sweet chaste kisses. She went limp into his touch.

"I...you are..."

"So much you wish for it with every breath you take? What is the true _memento_ of your existence? Your heart beat?

"Ahhh!" One lean finger was lazily tickling her opening and lower. She was biting her lips, eyes tight shut, getting sweaty and hot.

"Your staccato breathes when you scream my name?"

"The ecstasy you feel when you see me fill you?"

"My touches, your kiss...what if I tell you I can make you feel _more_?"

"More...then make me feel more...ohh...I...want you...to make me crazy...crazier than this...alive...I want to...with you..." She was barely standing, hands fisted into his shirt.

"You want me to _what_? What do you want me to do to you?"

"Hm? Say it all. Scream it all and let me know...your idea of being alive and free."

"...touch me and _never stop_. Be everywhere, be over me, inside me, consume me and let me breathe with you. I want to drink you all Sasuke. But don't let me _walk away_ from you. You have no idea how much I want you."

"Want me?" Sasuke pressed her shoulders to make her take two steps back, until she fell on the soft mattress of the bed. He wasted no time in following her, hovering over her much petite inviting frame.

"I can' t go on without feeling you under my touch. Without your embrace and I don't care if you don't love me back, because if you leave me, I will only be surrounded by strangers. I am also a stranger to my own persona and I feel like I am able to only find myself when you hold me. Why do I not feel alone when I am with you Sasuke? What is this reassurance you seed into my heart? Why kissing you feels more natural that blinking or breathing?"

A devious smirk made her insides howl in pleasure, hands securely placed around his neck. "Because I know what you want."

"You do? How so?"

"The click of your sharp high heel echoing through marble floors, the vibration of the air pressure whenever the wind makes your _ethereal presence_ dance into my arms, the way you walk tells the story of the emotions you have scrolled from the others to see that you keep iron-headed with tears and hopes in the crate of your heart beat.

Your strides are a poem, the way you stream in the wind into my arms is a sonnet of **undying love**, and you have every lyric imprinted in the incandescent gemstone like irises every time I fill your missing pieces with a puzzle of my own.

You are like the **symphony of autumn**: your lonely heart is like a flutter of the gentle birds longing for the warmth of spring, waiting to be reborn, waiting to filled up with the songs of the nature and bathed in vitality...your pulse nostalgically slower its peace waiting for the blooming sunrise to touch your soul and infuse you with life force.

Just like a** clepsydra, **your life streams like a thread of sand. You can be wind, you can be sand, you can _turn to ashes_, but even then I will make you _reborn_. Be a phoenix Sakura and shine like one, don't let this world turn you into a mole.

You are not meant to hide_ underground _just because they want to break your spirit. This world can turn you into your worst enemy. Don't let anyone say you are less then **perfect, ****my**** angel**."

* * *

**With this hands**

**With this eyes**

**With this mind**

**Destiny is yours to make**

**Don't lose control!**

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

Sasuke remembered her of both **physical** and **spiritual** existence. His musky scent, his presence, as solitary as unfaltering cliffs and the rapid frozen crystal rivers, his serene appearance, irenic as a bright fool moon and the illusion of coming from another universe, left Sakura a feel of undeniable home call.

Every touch brought them closer and she felt an indescribable happiness running over her heart when they touched.

Sasuke had the taste of everything divine and exquisite she could have found in the world, like the sweet as autumn vineyard and ripened pears taste of his lips.

His hands when he touched her _there_, felt so natural, like he was molding her through his own perception and breathing life into her with every kiss

His hand held a noble refinement in his touches and each brush of his fingertips or kneed of his palm was studied and precise, working on every nerve of her body.

And it was those apparently insignificant deliberate moves he used that sent her reeling into ecstasy, such as using the nail of his index to gently graze her rosy nipple, tingles mixing with electrifying goose bumps, or the way he was spanking her butt cheeks-at her own wish-while she was riding him.

She almost found herself getting more used to little _guilty pleasures_ with him, finding it both fascinating that she found herself so thrilled at the idea of giving him pleasure, without it being demanding or offensive, like when she was actually taking her time into tasting him unto her mouth, licking and testing what type of experience made his chest rumble harsher.

It was not about the immense addicting fire stirring pleasure their lovemaking represented, but the amount of things they discovered through their mutual silent communication, letting their bodies doing all the job.

They didn't have a habitual coherence when they fucked, playing by instinct depending on their mood.

Sometimes they felt each other's needs through their scream of each other's names, sometimes they moving baby steps, gently and slowly, talking about each other and they found it easier to communicate that way because there was no vulnerability involved when they so primal and carnal lied entangled on one another, for they were equals and there was a powerful feeling that dictated their peace and dominated their characters in that moment.

Sakura found herself asking where was one body starting and where was it ended, because the way Sasuke loved to bury himself into her, testing how deep could he leave his mark on her, she swore they would never going to be two separate entities again.

She spent more time with him inside her than whenever she left his home, the emptiness and the cool air felt suddenly heavy without him to be so perfectly mold in between the slim tights she so invitingly opened for him, the moment they were into each others presence.

She knew that in the outside society's whispering mouths, her lascivious unacceptable for an aspiring into higher class future Miss behavior was placing her straight above the mother of all the sluts, but that was not the way her conscience worked.

If Sakura was so freely offering Sasuke her body was because _she loved him_ undeniably. She valued her body as a sacred temple because she would allow no one beside him to cross its gats and step into her Secret Garden.

He was the sole living she would permit herself to moan in bliss for, because no other man would probably make her come with a sole skilful flicker of his tongue on her clit, or an unexpectedly kiss upon her breast, just where her heart was pumping blood though her running high pulse.

The fact that Sakura felt _no inhibitions_ to break the sexual boundaries when it came to Sasuke was precisely because it was _him_ the one to accept what she wanted to test, only resuming into chuckling at the despair displayed into her bold and unexpected ministrations, or growl and let out those untamed beast like manly sounds he was making when he exploded into her, on her or into her mouth.

Sakura could have sworn that there was no thing she has not tried with him, and everything that happened to their bodies felt like the most natural thing possible.

She loved when he was whispering the most revolting indecent obscenities when he thrust into her fiercely, promising the most pleasurable form of pain, getting her more turned on at the idea of how was he going to take her.

She even found herself asking Sasuke to scratch her neck, pull his canines down her pulse until she bleeded, pull out her hair while she took him into her mouth or slap her ass or sometimes breasts.

But he was doing it so gently and carefully, not in the bit hurting her or letting pain and discomfort overshadow the pleasure and she couldn't help but wonder how he could have been _so good_ in what he did.

And Sakura loved him so much that she felt her mind explode at the idea that she hasn't found a way to slip under his skin, melt their bodies together and be one with him forever.

She already had Sasuke living into her heart and she wantd him to breathe from her, live through her and only hear one heartbeat when orgasm hit them full force at the same time, sending their never getting tired hungry bodies to the same sweet place people called **Paradise**.

She loved the way Sasuke was taking his time to pleasure her and give all the erogenous spots the attention they needed.

He was patiently gracing her neck and shoulders with slick trails of his hot tongue, working extra hard to make sure she felt him rolling her earlobe in between his muscled organ and teeth, then pulling on her ear shell, blowing a cool steam inside, making her shudder in delight, every touch more sensual than the other.

Words 'lascivious and debauched' held no meaning when it came to Sasuke`s undivided attention towards her, Sakura realized, because each caress was meaningful and only devoted to her and her alone.

She knew Sasuke was a reputed extremely rich man among the lustful eyes of the hunting for a gold digger women from his circle, but she had the unbeatable testimony of his commitment to her at every hour she would have felt insecure of his possible mistrust.

Even though ironically speaking she was the one with an obligation of commitment , her hand promised to another man, Sakura couldn't place another woman into Sasuke`s arms that was not her. It hurt to the point of insanity.

And he knew about her fears, always finding the most appropriate kiss of assurance that he was only giving himself to her completely, no other third party included.

If only the small expensive token of a future marriage decorating her slim finger was encrusted with the history of his own family, Sakura would have no pardon in openly admitting life had nothing more to offer.

But it was Sai the one to claim that spot on her and Sakura knew that the lack of acceptance was making it drop to only another decorating jewelry that held no deeper meaning than just another thing to brag about while meeting new people that liked to judge.

During her melodramatic aspiring to fulfillment moments, Sakura found herself consider if she would have been Sasuke`s future betrothed, would he have given her his mother's ring?

She knew the woman that gave him those big expressive fire like black eyes was long gone and rest among the ones that passed God's judgment, but she couldn't help but call her mentally and ask for the permission to make her son happy in the moments they spend together, even though she couldn't give herself entirely, like she would.

As long as she was afraid to stop living through the other's eyes and free herself from their imposing bindings, she would never be able to be with him in the full sense of term.

How would it feel to part her eyelashes securely every morning and start the day embraced by the scent of their animalistic love making sessions and his soothing forest salty fragrance? Sakura found out that, while she was almost always cold, Sasuke`s body radiated a constant calling inexhaustible warmth, that beckoned her towards him like a never ceasing sun on her grey sky.

Sakura loved the idea of abandoning her body into his arms completely, shutting her eyes, because vision was slowly overtook by feelings when it came to Sasuke, stirred by the intensified sensations she had when there was a sudden jolt or tremor she hasn't anticipated shooting through her each time Sasuke's hands or mouth found a spot he liked to taste.

A feminine soft giggle always found Sakura`s features, when she was reminded how much Sasuke liked to orally pleasure her, loving the taste of the surging from her juices, his tongue greedily aim for every drop that leaked on the inside of her thigh or buttocks.

She lied spread on her back, playing her fingers into her splashed on the black silk mattress pink tresses, her lips crept in a delighted shape of 'o', paying attention to deliberately explore Sasuke`s hard rock rippling lean planes of his back muscles, with her bare red manicured toes, then tracing them down his sexy body and curling them on his ribs, while she relaxed into the bed under the way he was letting his mouth to so openly explore each part he found appealing to taste, at the content of his heart.

Sasuke was keeping her soft delicately designed labia widely spread before his eyes, burying his face in between the small crevice of her bloomed in front of him like a virgin lotus flower under water womanhood, suckling on her rosy lace like erect inner folds, occasionally pulling at them with his lips, while the tip of his nose was constantly rubbing her swollen clit, hitting its wood each time, drinking her all in and breathing the sweet fragrance of her drowning him essences.

His tongue was tracing ample circles upon her soaked core, slipping past her folds, but only superficially entering her and flicking his tongue rapidly over entrance, in a tantalizing manner, making her fingers trap in between his cashmere midnight hair, pressing him down more into her jerking hips.

No matter how many times Sakura promised him to stay relaxed and as still as she could to let him eat her out, she couldn't fight the magnetic waves of adrenaline that were hitting her lower back and the boiling pool accumulated into the pits of her abdomen, squirming and moaning his name helplessly.

Pleasuring her without entering her was serving as a cognitive purpose for self trust and self-knowledge in Sakura's mind, and she often asked Sasuke to only make her come and not enter her promptly, helping her build another level of physical respect and need, not enough to deprive them by the wonders of being united, but enough for them to grow more aware of their needs and the ability to respect each other's limits and demands against their own personal longings and that was something Sakura wouldn't even dare to bring into discussion with Sai-or anyone for the matter-.

If Sasuke was able to resist his inner urges to forcefully pin her down and overpower her with his well gifted manhood, stealing the pleasure that was meant for her and breaking the mutual understanding and compromise the faith between them, turning longing into raping, then he would have been no better than any other stranger, like Sai did to her.

Many nights have found Sakura damping her pillow in burning tears, while images of him taking advantage of her being alone in the house and fuck her out of her own consent, filling her with his semen, without bothering to consider her feelings or modesty and at least use protection, out of some sort of twisted remain of respect, and then zipping up his pants, finishing his throat burning disgusting glass of whiskey and leaving her alone to drown in misery.

Sasuke on the other hand, has never been drunk or even tipsy while making love to her. _Never._

And he got quite reclusive and even angry when she used to drink before fucking him senseless, always telling her that if she was not into a clear state of mind to realize what was happening, not only she would mistaken the loosens and pleasure alcohol was given to his fondling, but he would feel like violating not only her body, but her heat as well.

Of course, she always found a way to 'talk him' into stop going through so many details like they were business partners discussing a contract's terms and enjoy, meaning slipping her hands under his shirts to trace his lean chest or boldly massage him in between his legs, feeling him grow stiff under her touch.

He liked to drink _after_ they used the last trace of energy left in their bodies, when glued into each other's arms and always with the same unfaltering control only tasting his favorite red grapes beverage.

Like a real royalty. The only think he drank without measure was her juices, like he did in that moment.

"Mmm...Sasuke...ah..."

"Stay still."

Sasuke placed an open kiss above her wet dripping core, blowing inside her, making her emerald eyes fly open at the unexpected jolts that hit her, the small cries of pleasure breaking somewhere in between her panting chest and throat.

"Aaah!"

He then traced down her opening, letting his tongue slip past his lower lip and lick the sensitive small region in between her entrance and ass hole, making her tremble in anticipation at the idea of where was he going to focus his attention.

It took Sakura quite a lot of time to get used to the feel of Sasuke`s godly length penetrating her ass, but when they found a rhythm together, the orgasms that followed were full force, hard and long.

Of course, he understood the softness of her body and went extremely slow and gentle when he took her that way, and it was always after a prolonged foreplay.

But it was her the one to ask him to always insert a finger into that particular opening as well, when he rocked her vagina, to make her explode almost immediately.

"...Sasuke please I _want _you..."

"...not yet, love. Be _patient_."

He knew by the way she was almost flowing like a honey river under his touches that he was depriving her of release, but he actually wanted to make absolutely sure he exhausted every way he would think of in tasting her, from any position and at every angle.

Though, he took pity by the was she tried to hook her ankles around his shoulders and increase the friction, but his palms were keeping her legs down, as wide open as they could.

Sakura was panting heavily and she was forcefully pressing her heels into the mattress, making her neck arch and hips shot up towards him.

Sasuke took one last long lick upon her inner lips, then darted his tongue inside her slick passage, feeling how much she needed him, in the way she was basically bursting in flames, moving it in and out her fast, while he let two long finger scissor into the small opening of her ass, pumping her, doubling the pleasure, the response immediate.

"Sasuke! Fuck...Sasuke fas-ter!"

"Ahhhhh!"

Sakura lifted her body up, throwing her head backwards on the head rest, almost tearing the expensive dark bed sheet she was desperately gripping under her marble looking knuckles, feeling her whole muscles spasm and the entire skin cover in a deep flush rose like hue and prickling cold shivers.

No matter how many times she felt his mouth and tongue touch all the intimate places on her body it still felt like the first time. She never thought she was going to enjoy it so much. But everything was pleasant when it was Sasuke the one to do it.

"Sasuke...I...cannot hold it...ohhhh any...l-longer...hmm!"

When he fastened his peace and twirled his tongue around the inner walls inside her, Sakura lost her mind.

There was some words she was not able to process. Sakura cried out loud when her eyes bulged out of their sockets and her vision went dazzling white at the sudden perfect timed orgasm, coming out long and violent, feeling all the vital liquids leave her body all of sudden, collapsing into the bed, exhausted.

"..."

The only coherent word she was able to whisper throaty was Sasuke`s name, finding logic being a foreign concept while she let him have his way with her. And she knew by the way Sasuke was chuckling at her limp form occupying the middle of his king sized bed, that he was smirking.

"...Sasuke..."

"I must say Sakura you are the answer to all the starving souls. I could live my life satiating from your life force. And you are going to grant me just how much I _**want."**_

Lazy unfocused viridian irises followed the lines of her flat stomach to catch the sight of the amused man, who deliberately traced his glistening with her juices lips with his tongue, like a cat enjoying the sweetest cream, never breaking eye contact with her, eying her deviously.

Her breath took a sharp U-turn back into her lungs. Sasuke was absolutely gorgeous looking, and calling him stunning or ravishing was an unfair understatement. She only found one proper word to describe him: _Godly_. He was that beautiful. She couldn't help but fall for him-everything that he represented-all over again.

"...you...are...so handsome. I am not lying."

"Isn't the man the one supposed to praise a woman's beauty instead, while pleasuring her? Although...I don't find proper words to give you enough credit, Sakura."

"Sasuke?"

He leaned his body towards her, supporting his torso on his right hand, his left spread flat upon her expanding chest, in the valley of her breasts.

He let his gaze roam over the precise soft contours of her full rounded forms, following the way the firm tissue was enfolding on her small frame, her perked nipples pointing on her sides, at the way she laid flat on her back.

"_Beautiful_."

Sasuke took the way Sakura's rosy buds stood erect in front of his darkened eyes as an invitation to come and play, enveloping one sensitive bundle in between his fingers, rubbing the tip with his thumb, occasionally pulling it rhythmically, like a newborn placed into his mother's expecting arms for the first time after he saw the daylight, deliberately marveling at the softness of the creamy texture. It felt more like milk foam than skin and it awoken something inside his mind, that made him wonder what made him hesitate and not collect her into his arms right away, take his private jet and fly away in a place where the only ones to know their name would have been them and God, as a silent witness.

"Oh! Keep doing it like that!"

"Do you like this?"

"V-very!"

Sasuke never once removed his face from her squirming in bliss, one not missing any detail or any uneven breath she took under his touch.

Her bruised of their dominating kisses plump petal silk lips were unfolded into a sensual smile in delight, nibbling her teeth on the lower one, her tightened eyelashes were trembling in delight whenever he flicked his thumb over the perked nipple and rubbing its base upon her areola and she was having her head turned over then left shoulder, towards him.

And he felt himself grow harder when she, in a manner so arousing and untamed, brought her left hand in between her parted knees, freely touching herself while he did wonders with her breasts, shoving three digits inside her, fingering herself in front of him, moaning heavily.

"You have always been impatient Sakura."

"I c-can't help myself around you..."

"I like when you do that. But you like it better when I do that to you."

That totally not human baritone voice of his, smooth as velvet and rich as the finest cognac, made Sakura wet again. She absolutely loved to hear him speak. Hell, she even made him sing to her one day.

She thought she reached Paradise when he did that. Who knew he was also insanely skilled with playing jazz guitar. Sasuke truly was not lying when he told her he could give her everything she wanted.

"Then do that aga...ahh!" Sakura fastened the pumps of her fingers, when Sasuke lowered his chin at the same level of her breast, licking the side of the well endowed mound, going down to the base, under her rib cage, taking a full lap, then filled his mouth with the nipple he was delighting seconds ago, sucking as much as he could of it, lifting his head a little and seeing the supple skin fighting against the gravity, saliva pricking at the corners of his mouth, while his lips were zealously tasting her honey like luscious flesh. A delicate hand snuck around his neck, bringing him closer.

"What...how can y-you be this _good?!_"

"Hmmm?"

Sasuke turned his attention to the other equally delectable twin, giving it the same treatment, shifting his body weight so as to palm the one left behind breast, kneading it with his abrasive palm, while his teeth were grazing the delicious nipple of the other breasts, resting his cheek on the deep valley of her chest, amazed by the sound of her unruly heart beat playing the tempo of her emotional state of mind, vibrating through his ear drum, like thousand chirruping birds set free to aim for the infinite of the clear blue sky.

"You are so beautiful Sakura. How can anyone see you less than perfect? Mystical. _Magical. _He is a **loser **for not valuing you like you deserve."

Sakura waned to cry at his words, his hand suddenly dragging down from the breast he was squeezing and massaging, enveloping the wrist of the arm placed in between her legs, removing her fingers from her before she found relief, licking the soaked in cum fingers that were confined inside her, until he cleaned her all, suckling her fingertips, then raising her up to his chest, folding his hands around her waist, while her shimmering forest green eyes searched for his face confused.

"Sasuke why...I am..."

"You are amazing. The most amazing woman I have ever seen in my life...and even beyond that. A maiden among the highest stars...leave the world that doesn't deserve you and come be my Goddess."

_Stunned_. She was absolutely breathless at his confession. How was it possible for him to be that deep and actually **feel** the emotion he was enfolding towards her?

Emerald eyes damped in euphoria, small hands thrown carelessly around his neck, ravaging his mouth in a kiss that told him the Universal unspoken truth. Sasuke`s eager lips were dancing along her own, his tongue battling for dominance, reciprocating her feverous kiss, letting her take the lead and feel in control.

Only he knew how much the lady longed to feel like having the lead in her life, while everybody around was taking her for granted, as a broken puppet with dysfunctional strings.

While still engaged into the wet French kiss they were sharing, angling his head a bit for a better access, brushing the tip of his nose on her check, Sasuke attempted to quickly work on his shirt, unbuttoning the silk branded fabric up to the middle of his chest, when two hands prevented him from going further, soft moist lips speaking upon his own, breathless.

"L-let me...undress you...Sasuke."

"If you want to."

"I am dying to do it. Don't act like you don't like it."

"Hn...true."

He smirked hotly, nodding once in acceptance of her greedy request, placing a quick peck down her mouth, not stealing any more minute from her excitement while uncovering his body, rubbing her forearms while she fumbled with his shirt, discarding the useless article that concealed her needy view of his upper body.

The very same squirming sensation of astonishment found its way to her chest, when Sakura let her hands explore the delicious sharp lines and planes of his lean hard rock muscles, feeling her mouth water and she couldn't help but lean in and steal butterfly kisses from his glistening with tiny rivulets of sweat rolling down his burning alabaster skin, moaning contently at the way he felt and tasted on her tongue.

Not only he was extremely smooth and having a sharp, but delicate texture of his bones and fibers, but his amazing intoxicating scent, fused with the taste of his skin, reminded Sakura of a tropical coconut and melon cocktail, the rich fragrance giving him an exotic touch.

"Delicious...I want to eat you out alive Sasuke."

"I am so not going to stop you."

Sakura took her time into licking his sculpted abs, then grazing her tongue up his lean stomach, to his pectorals, feeling his pulse accelerate through his protruding muscles that were stirring under her touch, brushing her lips on his small nipples, a place she knew as extremely sensitive-among many others-being rewarded with a soft call of her name.

She smiled at that, encircling the pointed bud with her tongue, suckling on it, actually understanding why was he enjoying to play with her breast that much.

"Sakura..."

"Mmm? Is something the matter? Don't you like it?"

"Don't tease me. You know what happens when you do."

"What if I want it to happen?"

"You know I am not going to deny you anything. Albeit, I will make extra sure you got it tenfold."

"I am going to hold you onto that."

After she made sure there was no part of Sasuke`s chiseled manly chest that she has not tattooed in hungry kisses and wet licks, Sakura expertly unbuckled his belt, holding his gaze all the time, mirroring his deep smirk when his breath got stuck in his throat at the way her impatient fingers found the elastic of his navy boxers, dragging them down his carved hips, revealing the ideal of raw masculine features every woman would fantasized about, and Sakura felt suddenly very lucky that fate has given her the privilege for granted.

Sasuke straightened his legs to help her remove his pants and along with them his underwear found itself discarded aimlessly on the floor, then collected her delicate much fragile frame into his strong arms, lowering her back down on the mattress, that suddenly turned thin and light as a cloud, kissing her softly, but deeply, brushing a sweaty silk lock behind her ear shell, to uncover her garnet golden eyes.

Her rosy small cheek searched for his soft touch, relishing into his warmth. And the way he was always looking at her like she was a Gioconda, worth of all the homage for her inestimable treasures, was making her rushing heart flame.

His face, those eyes...Sasuke rarely smiled, expressing his contentment through his signature smirks, but even if his lips were not expressing his joy like the others did, his face held a memorable light, like a picture painted in oil of a royalty, his face a mysterious mixture of happiness and something else.

"I **love** you...Sasuke. I love you so much it burns me."

She felt the hotness of his hardened member poking her inner thigh, the milking tip leaving a wet trace down her grazed of goose bumps skin, making her shudder in anticipation.

"I know."

Sasuke followed the way Sakura's hand aimed his jaw, cupping his face to lower his head down and trap his lips, tracing his lower one with the tip of her tongue, darting inside to feel his straight pearl teeth, while she felt a palm descend to her lower small back, elevating her hips so as to precisely align herself to the sweet tip of his manhood and, in a swift sharp swing of his hip, penetrated her core, ascending towards her womb and stretching her eternal narrow sleek passage.

He let out a guttural groan when her inner walls caged his length greedily, like never wanting to let him go away, feeling every cell of the smooth tissue clamping and pulsating around his already palpitating arousal, the sensation electrifying for both.

"Oh!"

"Sakura. Don't shut your eyes. Keep them open and watch me."

"..."

"Watch me love you. Look at me when I enter you and ravage you."

"...ahhh...S-Sasu..."

He started a slow, hard pace, pushing himself in and out of her tight way, folding a hand around her shoulders, the other going down where they were so madly connected, twirling her clit, feeling their joined bodies welcome one another.

Each time, her lower lips were tingling his knuckles, while he massaged her womanhood, providing her a full pleasure, not letting any part of her intimate regions deprived of attention, loving the way she arched her back to push her hips more onto his own, trying to take him in deeper, meeting him halfway.

One thrust

Two thrusts

His hip was writing the lyrics inside her and she was singing the melody accordingly, his name never fading from her lips, and the love she had for him fluttering untamed from her chest.

Adoration like the sweetest drug shot from the pits of Sakura`s lower regions and she was allowed to remain drunk under his spell, and his meaningful touches.

Sasuke`s hands were leaving her skin burst into fireworks when his fingers traced her skin, and her dancing smile, the split image of her playful stare, as pure and illuminated as gentle fireflies in the magic of the night, made his heart squeal in bliss.

From the first kiss to the very last thrust, Sasuke turned Sakura`s body into a bolide.

Like two crashing galaxies fusing their essences, and together swallow their life force, creating a new pattern of energy, like it happened in a faraway time, known from the beginning of the history.

If their story has been written in an ancient constellation, then their lives transcended the haze of everything in creation.

"...y-yes...f...faster p-please!"

Sakura attempted to cage Sasuke`s lean waist with her legs, but he lifted her left leg over his shoulder, making her shift her position, so that she was resting on her side, supported on her shoulder, her cheek pressed on the pillow, with her arm splashed down the bed, while he straddled her other thigh and entered her, using one hand to support her elevated leg and the other to support himself.

Her lower body hung on the air, while he was ramming into her, filling her up fully and deeply, hitting the throbbing sweet G-spot over and over again, panting harshly, fastening his peace.

She felt her mind going empty, all her insides squirming in bliss, pressing the heel of her other leg that was resting on the bed into Sasuke`s knee, crying out in pleasure.

"Ah! P-Pleaseee! Don...t stop!"

"Never will I stop pleasing you, my love."

Sasuke secured her leg on his shoulder, keeping a firm grip on her knee, her hip never once touching the mattress, thrusting inside her relentlessly, while his eyes greedily took in the way her legs were stretching impossibly wide, spreading her folds more, giving him a delicious view of his shaft easily slipping past her small opening, confined in between her petal like small folds, embalmed in their mixed cum that was flooding from her. It was the most erotic thing her has ever seen.

The way they rocked and joined their most secluded regions so carnal and simple, complementing together and the musical whimpers coming from her trashing under him woman, were making Sasuke wonder how much the feeling behind their intense love making represented and how far it separated them from the ordinary debauched fucking people that felt nothing for each other.

It was so amazing for Sasuke to be inside her, literarily, loving her and pleasuring her like man and woman, and for that he was nesting into her welcoming warmth, feeling Sakura' s body clamp around him, in a vice grip that almost sent him into ecstasy. She has always been too tight for him, almost like her own nature wished to preserve the ineffable within her, but somehow she never told him he was hurting her.

Sasuke was well aware that her fiancé-a concept that stirred the vilest intents inside his veins-was raping her when he came home drunk, and that was so outrageously disgusting that it was not even coming close to a fuck.

"Sakura?"

But apparently her body always welcomed _him_, as a sort of salvation from her inner demons, molding and spanning as much as it could go to take him all in.

"Look at me. I told you to not close your eyes."

"...ahhhhm..."

Sasuke slowed his pumps, no matter how much the burning knot in his lower abdomen was gripping and urging his movements, going in and out of her, rhythmically, but gently, making the friction more intense.

She was beyond soaked and he was basically flying from her passage, not encountering any restraint. She was letting him in at the content of his heart.

"Come on. Don't turn your head."

"Sakura."

By the way Sasuke was keeping one leg on air, fucking her from her side, she had to roll on her shoulder, so that she was facing the window, instead of wall, but it was impossible to keep her emerald orbs in another way than shut tight.

The way Sasuke moved inside her, feeling his God like endowed member so alive inside her body, ravaging her insides, was so intensely amazing, that it was painful to withstand.

Sakura felt almost panicked at the way her body was forcibly washed by stimulating jolts and she had no idea how was it possible to keep on breathing with all the pumping and throbbing muscles. It was maddening, gravity defying and Sakura felt like she has been hit by energy rays from all the places.

"...I-I...can't...too much..."

She couldn't look at him, he was too_ good. _Her limbs were flushed, her porcelain skin was leaking rivers of hot sweat and the whole body felt paralyzed. Sakura couldn't move an inch, because the rippling pleasure rolling down from her core to her toes was electrocuting her, the sensation impossible to put in words.

"Look at me. See what is happening to you...us. See for yourself that this is not a dream. Sakura. I want you to see _me._"

Sasuke took the swan like delicate hand that was lying on his bed without a purpose into his own, intertwining their fingers, leaning towards her, not in his intention to try an acrobatic position and make her body ache, pressing his torso on the back of her thighs, having a generous view of her ass and core.

He could see her entirely exposed from that position and he could hit her sweet spot each time, the penetration hard and long.

Sasuke brought their joined hands on the same level as his face, kissing her wrist. He wanted to show her in which way exactly he couldn't have been compared to what Sai was doing to her.

He wanted Sakura to realize what was taking place between them and actively participate and reciprocate, as further as she wanted to go.

From his point of view, she was his queen, not an object used for release. An equal, a partner...

A lover. A treasure to keep close to his heart.

Sakura parted her tired eyelashes, moaning and panting deeply, watching in awe at the way Sasuke actually...smiled.

He smiled and he did it for her. His so kissable lips were curled upwards in a way so sinfully gorgeous that made her heart growl out of her chest and jump towards his palm. He was placing butterfly kisses, while he rode her gently, his own staccato harsh inhales fanning over her knees.

"...My God..."

"That is not exactly a title that would fit me."

"...ahhh...I...y-you are...you smiled! For me. Is it...for me? Say is it for me...even though you are l..."

"I love you. So much. Too much."

One sharp thrust and her inner walls clenched around him.

"I want you by my side. Forever."

Sasuke removed himself, up to the tip of his dripping slick covered in juices member, then darted boldly all the way up to her womb, never breaking the eye contact.

"Aahhh...P-please!"

"I need to be with you. Inside of you. For always."

"I want to be your everything. Only yours."

"...ohh...SASUKE!""

He only lasted for one last pump, before she exploded like a boiling volcano, throwing her head backwards and screaming his name to all the silent witnesses in the regal room, making him come at the same time, filling her richly with his semen, falling on her expecting arms.

"Sakura..."

"I love you. I have waited enough for you. You are not leaving my side. Never. I love you."

Rapid salty tears streamed down her cheeks, her sobs blending into her uneven sharp breaths at his confession. Not only Sakura could clearly hear him, but she was feeling it as well.

Sasuke had his nose buried in between her rising breasts, his lips resting upon her racing heart and she could clearly feel his confession sent to her cryptically from the vibrations his own heart was sending through their touching skins, like an old abandoned pick up vinyl with a forgotten melody written by an anonymous genius she was discovering from the ancient sands of time.

"You m-mean it Sasuke? I want it to be true. Please, let it be true. I need this everyday. I want to hear it each day."

"I _mean_ it Sakura. You know it. I will do everything you want me to, in order to prove it to you."

Sakura kept him tight to her body, slipping her hands under his armpits to embrace him, nuzzling her nose into his velvet raven hair, breathing into his shampoo. It was from the same brand as his cologne, she knew and it drove her insane.

He always smelt particularly good after sex. Maybe it was the pheromones, or his unique scent enveloping her, but it made Sakura feel so content and fulfilled that she couldn't help but get emotional.

She was not crying out of anger, she was doing it because of relief. Sasuke made her feel cleansed of all the dirt the world was throwing at her and that was the reason why she ended up in his arms and bed each time.

"I made you cry." His mild low voice reverberated through her eardrums, so soft yet extremely sensual.

"/sob/...no...you make me...so happy. I am so happy here Sasuke. So content."

"Then stay here. _Stay_ forever." Sasuke placed a soft kiss down the delicate bones of her collar, letting her sweet milk and vanilla fragrance tingle his tongue. She felt divine and tasted accordingly. Everything floral and feminine he was associating with her:

The expensive rich burgundy lipstick that tasted like bergamots and luscious pomegranates.

_Roses_

The silk blazing gold and green Indian scarf she wore, in the same shade as her eyes, imprinted with her discreet floral perfume

_Lotuses_

The subtle pastel rose hint of her precise French manicure

Those subtle details that made her stand out in his eyes, were the ones to make Sasuke go crazy. The fact that Sakura was never going to be his never crossed Sasuke`s mind. Sai was..._no one. _No one important. If he was not able to see what he got, _he was no competition_ for the Uchiha. A blind man was no threat.

Sasuke was well aware of the changes that got into her since they started their relationship, and it was only for the better, even he was able to see.

Sakura walked more confidently and she grew aware of her womanhood, actually taking her time to highlight her beauty and she even admitted beyond reasonable doubt that she did it for him. His ego never burst out more than in that moment. And he observed.

Sakura was paying attention to what she wore, replacing the boring simple outfits a medical student that was lacking time wore, with vaporous corrugated silk floss embroidery dresses in the colors of earth, pastel tulle blouses and cashmere pants.

Her long soft unique colored hair was not plainly kept tight in a plait or low ponytail, hanging plainly behind her back. No, she had wavy rebel curls that she had pulverized with a glitter hair spray.

They were bouncing when she was in the top riding him and he enjoyed running his hand through them or twirl a larger curl, that fell on her bouncing breasts, around his finger.

_Gorgeous_

* * *

**II.**

* * *

"...I can't. You know there is nothing more I would desire, but I have to go. I have thirty missed calls from my mother and four from Sai."

"Don't say _his_ name here."

She looked down to see his head raised, onyx eyes dancing in flames at the mere thought of her running into Sai's embrace, where she didn't belong. She deserved magnolia, but she was getting prickles.

"Not when you have me in between your legs. Not when you are in my bed. Never in my presence."

Oh, Sasuke has not removed himself from her, Sakura realized. She found the situation so normal, that she was not feeling him as intruding or foreign, but as part of her body. It was that natural how she perceived him.

She brought her palms from his back to his shoulders, massaging him up and down to his pectorals, wetting her lips and furrowing her eyebrows. There were deep nails traces on his marble skin, all her works of art, when he got too wild in his moves.

"I don't want to go back there. It doesn't feel like my home anymore."

"Mother is going to be so mad at me."

"Then don't go there if this is how you feel."

"I have to, Sasuke. I have been away for three days. And I have to be present at Sa...his parent's house for dinner."

Reluctantly, Sakura pushed him up, feeling a cold steam of air between her legs from the lack of warmth, when she removed Sasuke out of her, bringing her legs on the edge of the bed, searching for her shoes. She didn't want to leave, but she had to.

Her life was there, with her two friends, her always disappointed mom and an abusive fiancé that didn't want her. Sasuke was a cruel fantasy.

Fantasy, because it was too good to be real.

Cruel, because she couldn't be with him.

They had a life that separated them.

Soon, she was going to be married with Sai. Forever.

'_Until __death__ is going to separate you' _Was a tiny whisper she heard in her mind,which she ignored. She rose from the bed, heading to the shower. Sasuke followed her suit, but refrained from starting anything while she let the hot steam rinse her body.

She couldn't have possibly face her mother and probably her fiancé, scented with steamy sex, sweat and another foreign man fragrance.

Sasuke was resting his back on the doorway, taking in the way her hands worked down her slender body, the foam bubbles of shower gel-his shower gel-polishing the creamy skin. She was beautiful like a nymph. Sasuke felt his throat going dry.

Oh, how much he wanted to pin her down the edge of his Jacuzzi and ram into her from the behind merciless, but she had commitments she didn't want to sever, so he was respecting her decision.

"There is going to be a **time** when you will have **to** **make your choice**. You cannot have the best of both worlds Sakura. It will be either me or him."

She stepped out of the shower, shuddering at the coldness of the room, grabbing a towel, drying her hair quickly. Maybe she should consider getting a shorter haircut, because it was taking her too long.

"Please don't make me think about that for now. I already have enough ultimatums. Don't make me feel pressure coming from here as well. You are the only thing that I find certain, so don't take that away from me."

"I am only thinking about your well being Sakura."

"Then support me and my decision."

"How can I agree with you choosing another man?"

Sakura was efficient in dressing herself, throwing one last glance in the mirror to make sure her lie that she spent the time at Ino's held credibility, proceeding to the front door.

A pair of strong arms folded around her shoulders, and a pair of soft lips glued to her ear shell, whispering low: "How can I sleep when thinking _he_ is going to _fuck you_ and _touch you_ without your consent, and you are not going to stop him?"

They were on the doorway and Sakura felt the fluttering beaming sensation bloom into her chest when she felt his bare front pressed on her back. Sasuke was still naked and she could feel his lean muscles and desperate embrace. He was breaking her resolve.

"I have not chosen him, nor I am married to him. Engagement holds no value."

"But you are going to do it eventually."

"I will find a way till then."

She detached from him, going straight to her car, high heels resonating through the long deserted alley.

His home was impressive for its architecture and largeness, but the yard around was fairytale looking.

He was rich and lived like a high class. A quick turn of the key into ignition and the engine came to life. She checked his frame into the rear until she left his mansion.

"**Someday** Sasuke...I will be coming home. And I will never leave you."

* * *

**Wait for me, love.**

**III.**

* * *

Mebuki slapped her hard the moment Sakura showed her face on her mother's porch, the stinging handprint marking her delicate cheek, throwing her head over her shoulder at the sudden impact, her wavy pink locks splashing over her neck and face.

"Do you have any idea of how many times I tried to reach you, but all I could have heard was your voice mail?"

Sakura placed her palm over the offended skin, feeling it redden and burn. The place that not long ago Sasuke was tenderly kissing, was being dishonored by her relative.

"I run out of battery."

"Do you think I have been born yesterday, young lady? What is going on with you, how could you just disappear for three days and then come here like nothing happened?!" Her mother's tone was bitter and loud, not caring if they were disturbing the neighbors with their fighting.

Sakura slipped past her mother, entering the house she suddenly found unfamiliar and unwelcoming-it lack Sasuke`s home's particular cozy light and familiar aroma of scented cinnamon and green apples candles-going straight to her room, removing her coat. "Why does it matter? I am here now, aren't I?"

She heard Mebuki's rushed angry steps following her suit upstairs, already making her regret her decision to come back.

Wasn't a home supposed to be filled with lovingly welcomes and hot milk cocoa and biscuits? Her mother was like a harsh teacher disappointed with his student's poor grades and lack of interest for his subject.

"What is with this rude attitude, Sakura? Are you rebelling now? Do you only want to attract attention? Where have you been?"

"Ino's. She asked me help her find a dress for the carnival. I felt alone in this house, so I spent the night there."

"And do you really expect me to believe that? Are you taking me for a fool?"

"Either you trust me or not, is your choice mother. You can call her if you want." Sakura was searching for a comfortable attire to change, trying to ignore the discomfort she felt around her mother, not in the bit liking her reproachful tone.

She didn't particularly care for her daughter's well being, but more for her image. Ino was going to lie and cover for her, like she always did.

"You can bet I am going to do that. Now it is not the time to act like a runaway child Sakura. Have you talked to your fiancé? He keeps on calling and ask for you. Why are you not answering his calls?"

Ah yeah, she cared more about money above everything. Sai was a gold digger and she was the way to get it. Wasn't Sasuke rich as well?

Why wasn't she not making their relationship official then?

Just because people were going to bash on her for cheating on her fiancé with another luxury man? "We...are going to settle some things tonight. His parents are expecting us for dinner."

"Good. I hope you are not going to ruin this Sakura, because is the only chance you have to be...somebody." Mebuki said it like her daughter was worth nothing into her eyes, not even taking into consideration her future career.

When was the last time her mother praised her for anything, Sakura wondered.

"What do you mean by that? I don't need Sai to prove myself. I am perfectly capable to be on my own, alone! I am always working hard to get where I want!"

"Don't use that tone with me Sakura. You know nothing. You are just a silly girl, that think she is a woman, but you don't know what real life is."

'I know, because he made me live again.'

'I am a proud woman, when I am beside him.'

"That what do you know then, mother? You only care about your well being and you only need their _money_. My happiness doesn't count for you! You are making me sell my body, for a stranger that calls himself my fiancé, but never once told me I look beautiful or held me dearly!"

Sakura felt bile rise in her throat, fisting her hands in the loose shirt she found, turning around to face her mother. Was it possible to hate on a relative so much?

Mebuki's stare was fierce and her attitude lacked motherly instinct and family gentleness. "Don't be inconsiderate Sakura, because you are more than lucky to be engaged with a man like Sai. He has power and social status."

"But he doesn't love me."

'Like Sasuke does'

"Heh...who cares about that. Just do your job and stop embarrass me. I don't want his family to start think we are low, just because your little..._escapades_. Maybe you should reconsider your choice of friends if you are going to get married soon."

Sakura went silent, following the retreating back of her mother, shaking her head in disappointment.

How could have Mebuki utter such uninspired and superficial things to her own offspring, openly admitting that the concept of being loved and cared for was unimportant?

Love meant anything. Sasuke taught her.

And when she heard her phone vibrate, she realized just how much it meant.

* * *

**IV.**

* * *

"Sai? Yes, I am getting out."

'_We are all actors in this __masquerade_

_We all have __two faces:__ one that we show to the world and one that we show to the ones we love_

_Sai or my mom will never know the __real me_

_No one knows me like he does_

"No, I am meeting Ino. I haven't forgotten about the dinner."

_I don't mind the others to be __strangers_

_But I have to know his real self_

_**Sasuke**_

_A vortex of sensations_

_A __mystery I accept_

_Our arrogance pushes us to shut our senses obliviously to what the world demands and we chose to follow the other's unsteady rhythm, allowing them to control our lives. _

_Just like a __crystal shattered butterfly__, the soul is a fragile thing that it has to be maneuvered with caution. _

_Leave me and I will fall apart._

"I am not going to be late."

_Break my wings and I am going to fall down.'_

* * *

**V.**

* * *

"I cheat on him." Sakura told her simply. An expression akin to horror and surprise washed Ino's face upon the unexpected confession. It was the last thing she would have expected to learn about her usually humble and modest friend.

Apparently people **do **change and not necessary in the way one would have expected. The change in Sakura's limitations didn't slip unnoticed to Ino's vigilance. "You are _what_?!"

Her shriek burst out a bit too loud for their supposed to be discrete discussion. The others were not entitled to hear the story of her life.

It was supposed to be a secret-their secret-and she has broken the promise she made to herself an year ago.

Sasuke wouldn't have had any problem in bringing their affair to the public's eye. "I am seeing someone else. I don't love Sai. There is another man in my life."

A nagging silence stirred among the two friends. One was sipping her hot beverage, pursing her lips delicately to taste the aroma, the other having her jaw hanging open, in an unladylike manner.

"Oh my God Sakura. I cannot believe it! I mean...it is _you_ we are talking about here! You are not like that."

Sakura`s thin pink eyebrows furrowed, the implication behind Ino's unspoken words ringing into her ears. "Like what? A _whore_? I think this would be the proper term people use. I don't care though."

"No, this is not what I wanted to say and I am the last person to judge. What I want to say is that I wouldn't have expected such...guts from you."

"An year ago...I wouldn't have believed it myself. Guess you never know what life has in stock for you."

Ino blinked the confusion out of her baby blue eyes, trying to nail the fact that her best friend was facing a difficult situation and needed an understanding ear to listen to her, into her skull.

"Right. So...how did it happen? And why haven't you told me before? I mean...an year? This is long time."

It was difficult for Sakura to keep the track of the moments spent into Sasuke`s arms. She has been living under the impression that it was the day before when they have met.

An year...it held an unusual solemn implication when she heard it from someone else. "Remember an year ago, when Sai invited me to that party, before he asked me to be his fiancé?"

Ino nodded once, folding her arms upon the table. Of course she remember, since it was her the one to choose the dress for Sakura.

A quick glance at the expensive velvet and fur material of her coat assured Ino that Sakura would no longer need shopping advices.

"I do remember that. But you said nothing about that and you only called me two days after. Have you been with him?"

"Yes." Two days while she has been initiated in the wonders of being together with a man. Sakura would never forget their first encounter. He made his mark on her so natural that she often dreamt of their first time.

"We left the party earlier together and I told Sai I had an emergency at the hospital. He didn't question, but only told me I would have embarrassed him with my lack of manners anyways."

"Like in the movies. But I would have never guessed Sai treats you this bad, Sakura."

She smiled weakly, the awkward curl of her lips never reaching Sakura's emerald cast on her cup orbs, reminiscing the days when she would feel ashamed to mutter such improper attitude towards her.

"You have no idea..._how_ he treats me. He doesn't give a damn about me. He always insults me and he even admitted he is only willing to marry me because of his parents. I try to stay away from him as much as I can, but sometimes he comes to my house when he drinks and fucks me and I don't want it."

Ino's stunned expression turned into a heated stare, clenching her fists. "You mean...he rapes you! But Sakura...you have to tell someone about this. Break that engagement and tell him you don't want to take anymore of his bullshit!"

"You know his family is rich and has power. It is not that simple. I don't want my mother to be thrown into disgrace."

"And you are willing to let him do this to you just because of that? But this is not fair!"

"Nothing is fair in this world Ino. Like the way you want Shikamaru but he has accepted Temari's invitation to the carnival. Not everything will go smoothly, this is fact."

Ino brushed a golden lock fallen on her cheek, behind her ear, her often enthusiastic eyes getting foggy. She has been late in talking to Shikamaru. "I agree."

She made a brief pause, dropping her voice to a whisper, leaning towards Sakura. "What about this mystery man you see? Who is he anyways?"

Sakura kept her answer simple, not wanting to make it even bigger than it was. She was certain her friend would recognize the name. Everyone would do. "Uchiha Sasuke."

It was a short moment of utter silence while Ino let the information sink in, the expression on her face priceless.

Sakura found the way her mouth was opening and closing, but the words just wouldn't come. Who would have blamed her though, for she had the same expression when she found out just who fucked her two days straight first time they met.

"Whaaaat?! Holly Hell! Are you mocking me Sakura?! You can't be possibly referring to...oh God..." She quickly accessed the internet from her phone, searching for a relevant picture of the raven haired man, shaking her head in astonishment. "...to him?! _This_ Sasuke you mean?" Ino placed the phone under Sakura's lift up nose, the said girl smiling innocently in confirmation.

"Yes. Him." She was deeply amused by her friend's wide as UFOs baby blue eyes, remembering clearly the moment she was the one to find out who Sasuke really was. The reaction was quite similar.

* * *

**VI.**

* * *

One day, while passing time has lost Sakura's tracks among the high shelves adorned with medical books in the library, she found herself surfing the net for information about Sasuke, not quite able to grasp the oblivion she chose to swim into, while she first met him.

It happened a week after she met him and went into his bed.

"Let's see...who you really are..." She stuck the tip of her tongue out on the corner of her moth, while her fingertips were flying over the keys, tapping her lover's name.

The beaming monitor filled with thousand search results containing relevant information and pictures of the man she was almost certain she would find just one or two small news or gossip.

Instead, she found a CV that left her mouth agape, eyes glued to the screen. "Sasuke Uchiha...owner of the international _Uchiha Shipping Inc_...billionaire...single...one of the richest man alive...graduating Harvard with magna cum laude...doctorate in law and enginery of transports...international awards and medals..." The list went on and on, from his academic and business acknowledgments, to the spiciest details.

Suddenly, she felt a lump down her throat and her body getting hard, leaking from the chair. "My God...he is something..._else_!" The realization of the man she has been slept with and insisting on seeing her again took time to sink in.

His family has died in a car accident, Sakura also read. But she never found the courage to bring up such an unfortunate topic and Sasuke refrained from telling her anything about his mother or brother. But he had _no pictures_ of them in his house. None.

"I wonder if he thinks about them often."

Despite his reputation and social status, Sasuke never made Sakura feel inferior to him. While she was around him, it was easy to forget about who he really was.

Well...he made her forget her own name, so that was understandable. Not that she needed to, to begin with, because he made sure he spelled it as many times as possible. Sakura especially liked it when he moaned it. The screaming part was her job, alone.

.

.

"...damn...you are one lucky woman Sakura. Do you happen to have any idea of how many females would take each other's throats to just be in the same room as him?!"

She knew of course. And the fact that she was able to kiss his lips and relish in his confession of love gave her a sudden surge of unexpected power.

He was powerful and influent and it breathed that into her as well. "Is this supposed to make me feel better? Or are you implying he is a player?"

"Are you telling me he is not? He hooked another man's fiancé up after all. Well scratch that..." Ino prompted her chin on her palms, rooting her elbows on the table, smirking and winking at Sakura. "...more importantly: tell me everything. Don't let aside any juicy detail."

Sakura inhaled sharply once, telling her all she wanted to know. And Ino wouldn't cease her questions, making it sound like an interview. Sakura answered all her curious wonders about what they did.

It took her two hours to fully explain the exact situation and her feelings for him, using all her body language, not able to stop herself.

She cried and she laughed, but she finished with a wide grin on her face. Suddenly, Sakura felt lighter after she confessed to someone. She didn't believe enough in God to go to a priest.

Ino was in hysterics, acting like she was a protagonist in the story. All she could say in the end was: "Wow! I mean...WOW! I am speechless. Not only have you spent more time with him than you do with anyone else, but you actually got him fall for you!"

"I love him Ino." It was short, but it meant the world to her.

"Then...the run with him! You two sound like you were meant to be! And it is not like you ditch Sai for a beggar, to be afraid he is going to eventually take revenge on you. It is Sasuke Uchiha we are talking about, for Heaven's sake! Compared to him, Sai is filth under his shoe!"

"I know. But I...I can't just come out and say that I have been cheating on my fiancé for an year with a man I have met right when we got engaged, Ino. The media is going to hunt us both down."

"Why not? Why does it matter what the others think anyways?" Sakura was hearing the simple fact again, from a different perspective. Sasuke has an interest for her to break up with Sai, but Ino didn't.

"It does matter. I cannot just...be like you and pretend it didn't happen."

"Then…what now? Are you going to see him like you normally do, until you will have your wedding ring and soon enough, a belly that bears his son?"

It was an implacable fate that would happen and Sakura knew that if she wouldn't just gain courage to voice out her opposition towards the outrageous marriage, it would automatically lead to an imminent goodbye between her and Sasuke.

Inwardly, she kind of hoped for the things to miraculously solve by themselves, though all the odds were showing her otherwise. "I don't know...what I want anymore. No, in fact I do know, but I am afraid to follow what the heart is telling me to. What would you do in my place Ino?"

The blonde shrugged away her second thoughts casually, answering her honestly. "I will totally tell Sai I don't want to see him again for the next two millennia, sue him for rape and go live with that God for the rest of my life. Simple."

"...I am so confused. I have a meeting with Sai's parents that I am dreading to attend and I already miss Sasuke so much."

"Then don't go. No one is forcing you to. Though I am surprised no one suspects a thing...yet. Why is that? How com no one, me included, had any idea of the two of you? Don't tell me you are only staying in that villa and have constant sex, around the clock? Not that I could blame you..."

"No, of course we don't just fuck and leave the bed only to eat or drink. He walks with me, we talk and he makes me feel special. Wanted. Something no one does for me. I think it has to do with the choice of places.

Sometimes he brings me to his yacht, or an exclusive restaurant, where discretion is guaranteed. Sometimes, we just walk on the beach, at hours where only eloped couples like us do the same."

It was the truth. Sakura knew that she and Sasuke could have never been able to grow such an impossibly ardent love for each other with only a physical relationship.

Like the last three days since she has been away. Sasuke took three days break from work and dedicated her all his time.

They walked lazily through the autumn alleys of the park and he would let her slip her hands into his trench coat's pockets and rest her head on his chest.

Sasuke bought her white Belgian almond and cherries pralines and pistachio ice cream with macarons. She had her guilty pleasures that he found sweet and always bearing in mind what made her content.

That was why he always let her follow the sunset together, as cliché as that was and kiss him under a mellow locust tree, until every particle of her lungs run out of oxygen.

She would wear a velvet hat with large brims, eating sweet meringues, and Sasuke would recite passages from the famous works of William Shakespeare and Rabindranath Tagore, while she would take her time and complain about everything that bothered her.

He was not only an amazing interlocutor, but had the best advice for everything. Many problems she had were med school related and he actually used his connections to get her an available place for her practice.

She felt so much like his life partner, that the only thing that separated her from proudly say they were together as close as they could be, were their legal status, a foreign ring on her digit and the fact that she was not bearing his family name.

How many times hasn't she found herself testing how would it sound to be called 'Uchiha Sakura'? It sounded so ingenerate, like it was meant to be hers.

Like two identical atoms linked in a net, creating the purest crystal, astonishingly beautiful for the perfection of its forms.

Sasuke was as serious as he could have been, when he told her he would do everything she wanted and Sakura even made him withstand some tiring rounds of shopping, but he told her that each moment spent in her presence was making him content.

And of course, he wouldn't let her pay for anything or even considering taking a step into a shop that was not branded.

Sakura didn't feel like a whore he was covering in expensive gift for her services, because he would always whisper how much he loved her whenever her reticent emerald eyes were bowed to the price tag.

And she actually loved to cook for him and give him a relaxing massage she learnt during physiotherapy courses, so they were each compensating the best they could, not putting the other into an inferior place.

Her mother and the others learnt that Sakura had everything given to her by Sai, while she told her fiancé that she could afford to buy luxury things from her salary, which he didn't question.

He couldn't have cared less. But Sakura refused every single gift Sai or his family sent. That would have made her feel cheap.

"It sounds like a fairytale, except the part where you are engaged with that bastard." Ino exhaled dreamy.

"No one is to find out about this Ino." Sakura had complete faith in her beloved childhood friend, but it was her naivety and loud mouth the one she was afraid of.

"You have my word Sakura. You can trust me, as always."

"Thank you. For supporting me. I feel like everyone is constantly reproaching me things and I kind of feel so down this days."

"One of the patients I was supposed to follow has died. And it was in quite a strange way too." She carried on in telling her friend more about the patient with the mental disease, her friend nodding and understanding where she stood.

Ino was one in a million.

"By the way, for the last three days, it was you the one I have been with. We had a girl night out and I slept at your home."

Ino quickly got the message. "I will tell that to your mom, don't worry. My parents are out of town in a short holiday."

"Good."

"You own me. I want blueberries milkshake."

Sakura smiled at her friend softly, ordering another round. She checked on the time. She was going to be half an hour late for dinner.

And she didn't care.

* * *

**VII.**

* * *

It was already dark outside when Sakura parted ways with her friend, giving her a big hug for her undying support, thanking her for the great time they had and for listening to her story.

And ironically enough, she even gave the experienced Ino some tricks to catch on Shikamaru's eye. Well, she didn't lack information on handling men either.

So she checked on the clock for the millionth time, already envisioning Sai's mother reaction towards her thirty minutes lateness, already having the street he lived on in her field of view.

Only, while she was busy coming up with a polite enough excuse for her rudeness, she failed to notice a figure crossing the road, barely avoiding an accident by violently stepping on the brake, almost flying on the window, if not for the seat belt.

"What the..."

Her heart emerged out of her chest. She was one step away from hitting a person. Sakura quickly unbuckled the belt and jumped out of the car, approaching the unmoving person, an apologetic look on her face.

"Are you all right, madam?" She was an old beggar Sakura observed. The rags she wore and the tangled dirty hair were a giveaway. She wouldn't judge though. A life was a life, the medic in her concluded.

"I suppose I am."

"I am very sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like this, but the truth is I am quite _tired_ this days and I didn't see you..." She was shaking at the adrenaline rush and her voice came out jittery and high pitched, emerald eyes full of concern.

The elder looked at her and flashed a set of missing teeth and yellow canines. Poor woman, Sakura thought.

"Do you have a **coin**?" The elder asked cryptically.

Sakura wondered how such a small value will suffice for a small bread or anything she could have used, for the matter?

She searched for her wallet inside the clutch she had on her, checking for what she had been asked for. "I am sorry, I _don't_ have any."

The elder stopped Sakura's attempt to offer some bills she had, shaking her head, placing his wrinkled hand upon the lady's soft pale one. Sakura flinched at how_** cold **_it felt. "It is either a coin or nothing."

A sudden damp breeze stirred out of nowhere, blowing through Sakura' pastel pink tresses, making her long skirt and coat flutter.

An uncomfortable cold shiver rushed down her spine. "What...can you possibly do with a single coin?" She reasoned.

"It is not for me." The old woman replied in a smooth neutral tone.

Sakura found herself retract her hand from under the weird elder's one, letting her high heels slip backwards, towards her car.

The street went empty and she didn't like the croaks of the ravens and the deserted feel of nothingness in the air. She vaguely realized there were no leaves left in the trees. "I...think I should go. I am...ah...sorry again for almost hitting you."

"Such a _beautiful_ young girl you are."

Sakura was already in the driver's seat, pulling down the hand brake, quickly pressing the gas pedal down. But she heard the elder's last parting words sound and clear."

"It is still not the time to sail away on his ship, my child."

What Sakura failed to consider, was the pair of bottomless ink eyes taking in the scene before him, with interest, blending into the shadows.

A smirk.

**Soon** enough...

.

.

.

* * *

The engine of her car roared through the empty road, losing the sight of the strange beggar that made her feel...she was freezing, despite the turned on heat on her car.

"That was damn weird. That woman is insane."

It was only in the moment Sakura has made her reluctant appearance into Sai's home and found his parent's disapproving eyes cast on her, has Sakura realized she was late.

And not just thirty minutes like she has suspected.

She was in fact two hours late.

Her emerald eyes flew open in shock.

'HOW?'

* * *

_**What is **__**time**__**?**_

* * *

_**.**_

_**.**_

_**.**_

Author's Note: Thank you


	3. Blue eyes in a sepia portrait

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* * *

1

2

**-3-**

4

5

6

7

"Sasuke, do you believe in tomorrow?

"I believe in what I have."

"Mm? Possessive much?"

"Realistic."

"What about...fairytales...or dreams...do you find any credibility in such things?"

"...only when I have you in my arms...I am remembered of how good feeling alive can be."

"I was right. You also have a soft withheld side."

"Hn."

"I don't believe in tomorrow, Sasuke."

"Then believe in eternity...with me."

* * *

.

.

.

I.

* * *

"I think you should start considering getting married." His mother announced in a neutral way, nonchalantly sipping her jasmine tea. It was the first thing the fancy woman sternly announced when the family and the soon to be bride took a seat at the dinner table, into the living room.

Sakura, who couldn't brush away the reflection of her more than bizarre experience being indeed a chimera, produced by her exhausted mind, or an occurrence that transcended common logic, almost chocked on her food, her frenetic hand searching for the crystal glass of mineral water, to get rid of the offending pieces of the food. "Excuse me? B-but we are not even living together!"

Getting married? To Sai? No. Her mind, as well as her heart and moral had a limit she would not cross for a man like her fiancé. Sure, she has played the part of a devoted daughter, considerate to her mother's vast experience and good willed advice, but marriage was one life step a woman should only consent to, when her resolve was steady as steel and her feelings crystal clear.

"This is not a problem anymore." Sai's impassive tone perfectly depicted his unmasked indifference, like he didn't even care whether the topic of discussion was his future family or the football game's score.

The thought of the unique rosy haired beauty from his right, becoming his wife, brought no reaction on his blank expression. In fact, he was tapping something on his phone, not paying attention to his company. "I took the liberty to consult your mother and she had your things packed and ready to be delivered to one of our houses in the downtown."

Anger filled her system, like billion invisible needless amalgamating with her blood cells at the phlegmatic response and lack of communication, not able to understand how was it possible for the people she should have trusted the most, to take turns in maneuvering her strings, while she dances like a broken puppet, with a fake smile and crying eyes. "And you didn't find it appropriate to let me know first? This is an important decision and a big step into my life, you have to consult me as well."

"What for? You would have agreed with it anyways, so why not be efficient and save time?" She couldn't believe him. He arranges for her things to be moved to a new house, against her permission.

He couldn't be serious. It was too soon and she didn't have time to mentally prepare herself for daily encounters with a man that took advantage of her as easy as a summer breeze, without remorse.

"Stop making false assumptions!" Sakura snapped at him caustically, hitting the table with her clenched fist, much to his mother's deeply insulted dismay, at such an acrimonious burst.

The woman quickly placed her cup of tea down, scoffing. Sakura pulled no muscle to acknowledge her and went on. "If you are to take any decision that involves me as well, I want to give my consent, not to blindly agree with you!"

Sai's mother had to play her part as the symbol of the high revolted society, interfering into the conversation. "Young lady, is this a proper way to act in front of your future husband and his mother?! You need to redefine your behavior and consider your choice of words. Manners are top priority, if you hope to ever be part of our family!"

Of course, instead of the encouraging words and motherly advices a mother in law should give to the young future inexperience bride, that woman only welcomed Sakura with open affronts and heated glances.

Sai's father took pity on the visibly helpless lady and the way her shaky fingers had troubles in properly hold the spoon and sip the soup, not liking the way the conversation was going and the alarming attitude of his son and wife, so he considered making his opinion be heard.

He was not exactly Sakura's number one fan, but he didn't found her revolting as his wife suggested. "Honey, I do not feel that this is nece-"

"Do not interrupt me Charles, this is rude!" She cut him off without second thoughts, not even aware to save appearances and take her own advice into consideration and it only added to the grotesque of the situation.

It was bitter and ironic like dark humor and as picturesque as a solitary cemetery, Sakura found herself debating. "Sakura must understand what her place is going to be."

'I know my place...and it is not here.'

"You are all exaggerating." Sai spoke plainly, his uninterested empty cold stare betraying no ambition to establish a future deeper connection with his fiancé or draw a firm line in between his mother's immixture into affairs that didn't concern her and their private lives.

He simply let his parents deal with a problem he deemed not worth of his attention, choosing to focus on his own private matters instead.

"Son, don't tell me you plan on rebelling as well." A palm resting dramatically towards her mother's full chest, concealed by the chiffon black ribbon of her silk blouse made the woman's too studied gestures look laughable and exaggerating. She was trying too hard to cover her flaws, Sakura could clearly see.

Being a good medic automatically implied having an over the average level of emotional intelligence and deep understanding of the human's psychology and needs, so she read the older woman like an opened scroll. "I still say it is too soon to discuss such important subjects. We should wait and know each other better."

"This is why you are going to live together. To grow aware of how your future life is going to look like." The mere peek into the future brought Sakura to reel into despair. There were two things she envisioned on a long term, namely she being a future accomplished surgeon and having Sasuke by her side twenty four seven. The others could promptly and ceremoniously go to Hell, Sai included.

"Honey, maybe Sakura has a poin-"

"Why are we still discussing this topic, since I had Sakura's things moved to my house? Why not focus on the upcoming important exhibition and a sponsor I have found that is interested in art and would be willing to support the artists present, me included?"

Sai decided to let the subject drop, since deciding someone else's future held no significance, like they lived in the feudal era, discussion the transaction over a slave, wiping his mouth with the white napkin, frowning at them.

A bitterness she only felt when a strong alcoholic beverage burnt her throat made Sakura's innards quiver in repulsiveness. Small involuntarily habits in the way he viewed their relationship were not passing unnoticed by the smart pastel rose haired lady and she clearly realized that Sai has referred to their future home as _his_ house and he lived trapped into his own small artistic world, where she didn't have a place to begin with. The only thing that interested him was painting. She was a subject he would rather not approach.

So she tried her best to mirror his nonchalance and, with an apathetic feeling emerging from the pits of her conscience, she resumed her tasteless delicacies, half listening to whatever Sai had to say and half thinking about her things that lifted her mood, namely Sasuke.

"A possible future investor? It sounds promising for your future career. It is always a pleasure to meet sensible rich people with a fine observation for details and refinement, right darling?"

Sai's father's attitude revealed an interest in art as great as Sakura's own in the migration of the Burgundy snail.

He stole a single glance around to make sure there was at least one person in the room that shared his boredom, then nodded once to his wife and son, not in his intention to offend them. "Of course."

"We plan on having a large exhibition at the National Museum of Art on Christmas and his sponsorship is crucial for our success. We got a confirmation from the other people we have collaborated with and supported us until now, but their donations cannot be compared."

Sakura was no new to arts and painting galleries. Having a fiancé working as a painter got her studying his world a bit, just to have a better understanding of his circle of friends and she knew that there was a small category of talented painters that were poor and couldn't afford to support themselves and cultivate their talent, so it was only natural to look for donations.

But Sai was already filthy rich, so why was he depriving the others in more need than him? Because he was a heartless bastard, her inner screamed at her. "And who might this person be? He sounds like a prominent figure. Do we know him?" His mother asked.

"I am sure you all heard about him. Even you, Sakura. He is constantly into the eyes of the media." There was a barely audible knock bumping into her skull that made the emerald eyes woman grow alert of a possible future unexpected occurrence, so she suddenly grew interested.

"Really? Is he a_ celebrity_ or something?"

"Celebrity?! My dear, do not mistake our _classy_ acquaintances for such shallow-" Sai successfully cut his mother's rambling and his fiancé's oxygen supply with his answer. Two words that made her stomach sink.

"_Uchiha Sasuke_. Tough, his secretary didn't confirm anything yet, his previous sponsorships are not a mystery. If we are lucky, we might even get half a million."

All the eyes were on Sakura who, at that time, promptly managed to choke on her food, hitting her chest to avoid suffocation.

Her face went tomato red and her bloodshot eyes had tears pricking at their corners. Her mother felt deeply offended by such improper table manners. "Are you all right, my dear?" She half faked wariness.

Sakura nodded once, feeling the remains of her food slip down her throat, taking large gulps of water. Inside, she was a hurricane of whirling incertitude. "Y-yes, I...I am sorry."

"Well, like I have said, we are currently waiting for his confirmation." A large smirk that came nowhere near the one the man's he was talking about, sexy one, made its way to Sai's face, cockily taking much proud of his intellect. "But I am sure a sugary talk is going to be enough for such a snob to pump the funds we need, without a care. People like him don't have any pardon when it comes to spending."

Sakura's undying patience flew out of the window at the obvious way her fiancé was ridiculing her secret lover, so oblivious to his value. Sai knew nothing and he was _nothing _in comparison. Not even trash, because his wrap was not beautiful either. "You are not going to fool _him_!" She raised her tone, stunning everyone with her intervention.

"I am sorry? Who said something about fooling? You don't need trickery to fool a complete fool. It is called persuasion." He replied in the same sarcastic arrogance, which made the emerald eyed girl fuel with rage.

"It is called cheap, in case you didn't know! You know nothing about him!" It would have been wise for her to keep her mouth on a leash.

Sai's mother grew alert in an instant. "Why are so riled up all of sudden? Rudely defending a _strange_r…"

"I fight for whatever I find to be unfair! It is my doctor nature to respond to my patient's..._needs._"

_'And mine as well.'_

"Then maybe you should rethink your priorities, young lady and not act so suspicious. Other might even think you have _ulterior_ motives."

She so wanted to scream into her future family members' disrespectful faces that she was fucking the man they stupidly took for an imbecile, almost daily, behind their son's back, loving him with all her might, but it would do her no good. It did help her fight their coalition and survive a break down, on the other hand. "It is my way of viewing things."

"Heh...it doesn't matter."

"Sai-"

"Mom, dad, we will take our leave now. It is late and I am expecting someone to help me work at my new painting."

_'Someone?'_ Sakura wouldn't lie and say that his implication held another significance and it was in the cryptically way he slipped the words that had a familiar hint for the pink haired lady and she found the blooming idea be...soothing. "Oh dear, I wish you would have spent more time with us, we barely see you." His mother stood up as well, followed by his father.

Sakura couldn't wait to get home and rest her tired eyes...and unpack. She almost dreaded at the idea of her staying unto the same house as him...alone. She knew what he was capable of, even if they didn't interact so much, since both were extremely busy people.

"Before you leave, I think it is wise to set the date of the wedding in spring. I was thinking on March or April." The older woman let the young couple know, already planning on handling everything. "We must search for a proper location and it is already pretty late."

Sakura felt like something was constricting her neck, because she was panicking and felt out of breath. It was real and happening...in less than four mouths...she would be a married woman...with _another_ man. A man she didn't love. A man she hated.

A man who was not _him._

And she couldn't accept that. She was not ready.

"I think it is too soon. We should wait for at least an additional year and see what-"

"I think you two have already waited enough to exchange vows, Sakura. People already talk. At least, you are going to live together and since I will announce everyone of your future marriage, they will have nothing to gossip about."

"If she doesn't feel ready..." Charles began edgy, afraid to anger his wife. The woman was not only stubborn, but dominant as well and she didn't like someone to have another different opinion. But his future daughter in law looked anxious and it made him feel almost guilty."...maybe we should not interfere."

"Not interfere?! Charles, I am sick of hearing the other madams from the country club talking behind my back, about my son wandering around with random women! It is absurd, it gives us a bad reputation!"

Sakura felt like kissing Sai's father, but his mother was a major pain in the ass. She wanted to strangle her. Sai couldn't care less about their small altercation. He just wanted out of his mother's meanders and influence. "Whatever. Do as you please. I have nothing to argue about. Sakura neither." Again, he was not considering her feelings. "Let's go."

They paid their farewells and climbed into Sai's car, much to Sakura's horror, because she would have to come back tomorrow and take hers back.

And the moment they shut the doors, he leaned towards her until his lips glued to her ear, whispering darkly and taking a small lick of her ear shell, making Sakura squirm out of his repulsive touch. "Heard that? In three mouths...you will be bound to me until you _die._"

'The contract was clear. The terms doesn't state forever.'

'And life...was short in comparison to an _eternity_'

* * *

II.

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* * *

Sai`s villa was modern and fancy, Sakura observed at a first glance. It was just like their family: modern, extravagant with a hint of traditional and conservatism, but refined at the same time, sober and cold.

But it paled in comparison to the splendor of the baroque architecture of Sasuke`s mansion. The garden especially, it looked lifeless and unwelcoming.

And the same lack of motion and coziness welcomed Sakura the first time she entered the living room, with her fiancé right on her tail. She stopped at the base of the spiral staircase, with her hands on her hips. "Where do I sleep?" She wanted the minimum distance to be sort out from the very beginning, or else she would not be able to close an eye that night.

"Your room is at the end of the hall, first floor."

So he also considered their more than hostile attitude towards each other, Sakura bitterly remarked, though she couldn't help the disappointment she felt, at the thought of her fiancé not even taking into consideration a minimum sort of compromise and a future closeness. "So you deliberately wanted to alienate me, didn't you?"

"Like usual, you are jumping into annoying conclusions. I picked that one for you because it has a beautiful view of the back garden." Just like his mother, Sai did his best to maintain a facade, using basic logic, lying smoothly through his teeth.

"Do you think I am stupid? You are just like your mother. She too thinks I am a fool and she doesn't even bother to listen, but what really makes my blood boil is that you are letting her insult me like you never care whether you are going to marry me or a stray dog!"

"I don't like either but you don't see me coming to complain to you, like a spoiled child." Maybe the worst part of that forced relationship, was his view on her, like their ranks were miles away, treating her with the same level of arrogant superiority between a king and his poor servant.

Sakura truly wanted to scream into his face that he was not even half the man he considered himself to be and the repulsiveness he was trying to hide behind the bored mask made her innards get sick. "Spoiled child? Do you hear yourself, Sai?! You are my fucking _fiancé,_ where should I possibly search for understanding then?!"

"Why asking me? Don't you have those _little friends_ of yours to go nag? I think this is what those _things _are for." Of course Sai couldn't let the topic _'the pair of blonde unmannered and barbarian friends_' of hers drop, fructifying any chance he got to mock them. Unfortunately, they met once or twice while they came to visit Sakura. The hate was unavoidable, from both the aforementioned parties.

"You are disgusting." She told him with an acid animosity that betrayed her genuine representation of his lacking personality.

"Why, do you want us to share the same room? It is not in my intention to sacrifice the space of my room with you, but I don't mind having you from time to time."

"You mean _raping _me whenever you please, like the pig you are?"

"It is not rape if you enjoy it and judging from your screams, I wouldn't say you were not." He told him simply, like he actually believed into his revolting words, chanting them to her like mantra, whenever she brought up the solid accusation.

It only happened two or three times since they got engaged, and it was enough for Sakura to overcome the normal terror of such domestic abuse, not being afraid of him.

She would not let him touch her like that again, she made a vow. But last time he took advantage of her, it went pretty bad for Sakura. He physically hurt her and she needed medical treatment, because she had multiple bruises, deep scratches, a sprained ankle, a minor head concussion and serious injuries on her private regions, due to how he forced his way with her, which took a week to recover.

But she would have never imagined that she would have to fight Sasuke to stop him from suing Sai's ass, like he threatened.

He told her he would make sure he would rot in jail for what he did. He had the necessary connections to make sure no lawyer would be able to defend him. Sakura has never seen the Uchiha`s vile dark intent like in the moment she run straight to his home, desperate.

She didn't want to report the case to the police, because Sai has threatened her to harm her mother and his family was powerful enough to take revenge. "You must be insane to mistake pain for pleasure!"

"Get used to it then, because it is probably the most you will get, anyways." Oh, if only she would start telling him about how _much_ she actually got…

"Don't you dare lay another finger on me, or you will come to regret it!" Sakura took a deep breath, combing her tresses with her fingers. She needed a cigarette. The man in front of her was insufferable.

"I hate you." She told him genuinely.

"Meh, that is you problem which I suggest to get rid of, because soon enough, you are going to be my..._wife_. And by the way, I have an important painting I must work at, so a model will be coming here to pose. Try and not get in the way, you know I don't like to be distracted."

She didn't miss the way he bumped her shoulder, when he passed her, heading towards the attic to work. And she didn't even bother to ask for more details. What he did...was not her problem.

"Heh, I don't mind doing that. I don't want to see you around either."

* * *

**.**

**.**

**.**

_/Empty walls, they have my name, my screams, my tears. And you, Like a sad piano melody under the suave notes flying from under the skilful fingers of a pianist, dancing on the keyboard, helped me wash all of it away...all this pain, with your lips./_

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

She went upstairs, already being enveloped in the darkness and coldness of the space. There were boxes everywhere with her belongings. It lacked the warmth of Sasuke`s home, that had the family touch like Christmas` rich scent of vanilla cinnamon and hot tea, love, care and safety.

Sakura rubbed her forearms shuddering, while she took in the stillness of the large room, feeling like trespassing, even though that would probably be her new home.

Depressing feelings were twisting Sakura's inner self and she almost wanted to turn around, open the door she locked and make a run for it. Indeed, she was out of Mebuki's influence, but Sai was an unpredictable and a dangerous man she couldn't refrain from provoking. But he would not take her for granted.

With that though in mind, Sakura kneed in front of she first big cartoon box, unwrapping it like a Christmas gift that lacked the signature joy, pulling out her belongings. Her mother only packed the things she used most, meaning clothes, toiletries and electronics.

She took of her clothes after she locked the door finding something more comfortable to wear, starting to arrange her personal belongings. Her mother has probably took the liberty to throw away most of the her childhood memories but she left the ones with her grandma and father.

Two small delicate hands opened up the large photo album, looking longingly at the first page, with four old pictures flashing before her eyes.

A woman in her sixties, with mild features, wearing signs of the unmerciful passing time on her wrinkled complexion and loving eyes, reminded Sakura of the reason why she loved her grandma so much.

Appreciation, consideration, undying protection and care, were the emotions she unconditionally portrayed in front of her beloved niece, visible through the smallest and studied loving gestures.

It was a picture Sakura took of her grandmother with her first camera, during Eastern. The elder woman turned cooking into an art, and it was not solely due to her constant practice and skills, but because she was pouring her feelings into her dishes, just like she used to do nothing at random, knowing that it would be her _family _the one to thank her properly for a well done job.

Sakura always found the same attitude at her, namely, being in constant search to make herself useful for the others and help them if she had the ability, just to see them happy.

A selfless person that never defamed the other's best interest and it was a trait she was famous for, along with her sweet cupcakes, with caramel syrup and almonds and hot milk chocolate, with oranges and mint.

Even her dishes had the taste of home and security, just like Sasuke`s and it was the unbeatable proof Sakura needs to decide what place she would ardently call _'home'._

Another picture found a four years little Sakura in a boat, surrounded by many others, sitting on a fishing chair, trying to hold a pretty big carp her father managed to capture, from the bottomless wide lake, marveling at the luscious scales.

And Sakura had the stories her grandmother used to tell, before sleep, imprinted into her memory, where she has reserved the deceased woman a special place.

They were incredible stories about sea, fishermen entrapped by magical creatures of the infinite azure and mythical nymphs and sirens, wandering free under the unfathomable ocean. She was eloquent and her voice was like a spell, calming souls.

She could clearly remember her father's amused smile at the way she found its tail charming, always chanting that she would be a mermaid someday, and swim along the coast, along with friendly dolphins and all species of colorful fishes, searching for rare pearls and corals in the color of her eyes. She lost her paternal figure one month later in a plane crush and it left a mark on her she, that she has never overcame.

As the flipped pages were revealing more of her precious moments, so were her jade eyes pooled with salty crystal tears, streaming down her cheeks and the last photograph strengthen her decision to pay Sara Haruno' s grave a visit, the next day, after school.

It was a big **sepia portrait** of her grandma in all the splendor of her contesse like wedding gown, wearing pearl and diamonds earrings and necklace and the most brilliant smile of fulfillment she ever saw in people. Her trademark.

Quivering fingers brushed the antique stylized picture in regret and miss. "Grandma...at what point of time in my life have I been wrong?" She fell asleep with the rich fragrance of cookies and rum pralines in mind and she has dreamt of vast fields of narcissus and hope and white doves.

* * *

**III.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

She failed an exam, has been Sakura's first observation, when her eager emerald eyes searched frantically for her name on the list, taking a double look. "I really liked human nervous system, you know?"

Disappointment was discernible in every word she addressed to a blonde haired Ino, who stood beside her, patting her shoulder in a comforting manner, silently conveying her supportive message through a small significant gesture.

"Don't worry, you will do better the next time. You are smart and everyone knows that this teacher is particularly arrogant and thinks so low about everyone, beside him." The blonde tried to argue, though she kept her usually high pitched voice as a low whisper, aware of all the possible attention her small burst could have attracted, from all the other students around.

Sakura bowed her emerald eyes on the ground, almost ashamed and resigned, like she has already buried her guns, giving up the fight, brushing a pastel rose lock away from her eyes, nodding reluctantly once.

"I know but..." She couldn't help the stubborn thought to seed into her mind that her high expectations have been once again crushed, that time, by a teacher that arrogantly underestimated her medical acknowledge. "...I spent so much time, learning for this damn exam, Ino."

The azure eyed lady slipped a hand around her friend's stiff shoulders, pulling her out of the gathered around crowd, heading to the exit, since both didn't have any other courses, with the sole intention of brightening the rosette's day with a caramel and banana piece of cake.

"I know dear, I know. But don't be upset, it can happen to anyone. You know I had to re take that exam on the history of design three times before I finally passed it!"

Sakura praised Ino's jovial attempt to brighten up her day with a small smile that barely reached her viridian hazed orbs. She wanted to cry and she wanted someone to hold her tight, but she couldn't have been that selfish and pass her problems to her friend. "How could I ever forget, since I helped you learn faster? I think I would have taken a better mark than you."

"Probably, since you know that I am not famous for my sharp memory." Ino finished with an honest confession, flipping her hair like a diva on the red carpet. "I express my genius through my sketches. Soon enough, all the celebrities are going to wear my dresses. Beside, Shika has fail one or twice as well and he is a genius! So you are in trend."

"Wow, you even found him a pet name, congratulations. "Sakura smirked down at her friend, searching for the car keys into her messy bag, only feeling her pens, lipstick or mirror under her frenetically roaming fingers, annoyed. "What is your progress so far, by the way?"

"Zero and it gets on my nerves, aish!" the blonde stomped her purple high heel on the floor, flailing her hands above her head, like she was conjuring spirits through Wicca.

"I have a failed attempt to approach him today during the lunch break you so conveniently skipped today, but that ugly thistle immediately flew towards his table! Can you believe it Sak?! She is keeping him on a leash!"

"I see. What about the festival? Have you found the perfect costume to make him fall for you in two seconds?" Sakura kind of regretted bringing up the topic carnival, because her blonde childhood friend has been nagging her into helping her to choose the best attire and a fitting mask ever since it has been announced, but she truly felt bad for her poor luck.

Her gaze went mild at the sight of her visibly confused friend, not knowing what advice to give her, because she has never been in the situation to try and lure a man. In her case, it has been the other way around and she was lucky, because she had no idea how to properly approach a man like Sasuke.

"I have the best costume all around the world! My most brilliant creation so far! I will be a seductress elf."

Sakura snorted visibly entertained at Ino's hand picked mythological character, finding the small object she was looking for, exiting the building with her friend tailing after her, describing the costume.

She was saying something about glitter and lace wings. if only she would remember where exactly has she parked her car..."Ino, aren't you exaggerating...just a bit? I mean, you want to be sexy, not sluttish."

"My arts can be described as eccentric and dramatic, not sultry, thank you very much." She folded her arms imposingly upon her deep cleavage, pouting comically. She had a perfect balance between her childish behavior and alluring gorgeous features, Sakura observed. Very unique.

"I will hold you onto that one. Ino, how do you find your car when you absolutely can't remember where you left it?" Maybe it was all the stress accumulating into her system, because Sakura found herself forgetting the simplest things, even the ones that got into her reflexes and were supposed to come to her naturally.

They stopped outside, at the top of the stairs, with a deep in thoughts Ino, who held her fist under her pointed chin, nibbling her lower lip. "If it doesn't have a phone to ask it about the exact location, then unlock the doors and see which one makes that short beep and flashes the lights."

Sakura giggled once at her friend's idea, rubbing her palms together, shuddering at the sudden cold November wind that blew through her opened navy short coat and loose red crepe Georgette skirt, making the emerald eyed lady shudder. "What a brilliant idea Ino. What if I let it on the back parking lot? It is not like it is going to call my name all of sudden."

"Well, you can never kno-"

"_Sakura_."

Both the women' s heads snapped over their shoulder, in the direction of the mysterious alluring dark voice, briefly entertaining the idea that the lifeless vehicle could have been able to call for its master.

Well, that was Ino's case, because Sakura knew _exactly _who the owner of the mesmerizing rich contralto voice was, the moment she grew alert of a ravishing fragrance of musk, lavender and lily of the valleys, meandering above her head.

And when her small nose followed the tiny lingering direction of the intoxicating scent, she came across her beloved pair of onyx eyes, not far from her, searching for her pair of suddenly sparkling in joy green garnet orbs.

Meanwhile, her friend decided to pose as the voice of the entire female population and act like any other normal in her place would do, meaning, letting her jaw hit the ground soundly, shooting her shocked baby blue eyes opened, like she has came across a mountain of strawberries and oranges chocolate, pointing her finger at the sudden point of interest for the passerby students that were entering or exiting the University.

"Oh my God, Sakura, is that _who_ I think he is?!"

It came as an impossible task for Sakura to hold back the wide smile, tentatively waiving her hand in his direction, aware of all the people around. "It depends on who do you think he is."

When he angled his head slightly, smirking at her, she felt suddenly circled by rainbows and shooting stars. It was the exact thing she needed to make her forget about the failed exam and lift up her mood and as always, he was there in the most appropriate moment, to respond to her secret call.

Beside her, the blonde Yamanaka was hyperventilating. "Don't play with me Sakura, that is...God, that is Sasuke Uchiha!" Sakura tore her eyes away from her enchanting lover, to take her time and scowl at her friend.

She intrigued all the others with her childish comment and it was the last thing she needed. To her luck, she came to her senses and whispered into her war her next question. "Is he here for you?"

As if that wasn't obvious," Yes. Though, it is a surprise." Indeed, they displayed themselves to he general public, but only in exclusivist places or less populated ones, for obvious reasons, so him coming to probably pick her up from University was something he never did before, but it was a mutual agreement as a form of keeping a low profile as much as they could. "I didn't expect him here."

"Gosh, Sakura, I am so jealous of you!" The blonde did nothing to mask her fascination and a quick look around told her that it was on every woman's instinct to turn her head around and steal another look at the handsome rich man. "He is even more gorgeous in real life, than on the TV!"

"I know, so stop being so obvious, it makes me feel...bothered." Sakura pulled her friend into a bear hug, both kissing one another goodbye, parting ways. Ino caught the message. Sakura was on good hands, so their cake would wait for the moment.

"Bothered? _Pflease_, you should totally go there, give him a French kiss worth of an Oscar and make everyone crawl in envy. Jeez, to have that man waiting for you...lucky!" Nonetheless, Ino winked at an innocent looking Sakura, giving her a thumb up, before heading towards her yellow convertible. "You own me a cake later on!" Sakura let her know.

"Call me later!"

"You can bet on it!" With her friend parted ways with her, Sakura eagerly descended the stairs, mentally cursing her choice to wear high heels for taking it too long, already having her exhilarated heart thumping in her chest, invaded by an unexplainable happiness and impatience at the sight of the man who was permanently present on her thoughts and dreams.

With eager steps, echoing through the alley, she approached him, while he, almost in anticipation, unfolded his arms from his lean chest, welcoming her with a tight embrace.

Without even considering the eyes on them, the moment Sakura felt enveloped by Sasuke`s strong manly scent and warm embrace, she slipped her freezing hands deep down the pockets of his long wool coat and kissed him fully, leisurely, but passionately, sucking the warmth away from his hot soft lips, mewling when she felt a hot tongue slip inside her opened mouth, through their lip lock, massaging her own.

Sasuke was well aware of the fact that a black shinny limo parked in front of Konoha's University and a billionaire resting his back casually on a tree from the yard, expecting an aspiring medic to finish courses and meet him, was not exactly the smartest thing to do. But the moment she sent him a short message, telling him that _'I fell.'_ he couldn't ignore her silent plea.

So there he was, neglecting all the paperwork that was resting in a pile of files on his office desk, kissing her like there was not one around to witness their precious moment, responding to her needs.

Sakura was telling him everything he had not known, through the way her moves got urgent, more demanding and heated.

So Sasuke gladly complied to her unspoken request, intertwining his lean fingers behind her back, leaning his shoulders further into the trunk of the chestnut tree, letting her kiss him and suckle his lips at the content of her heart, until her lungs couldn't withstand anymore second without fresh air.

Sakura only pulled apart when she felt her innate reflexes kicking in, urging her to basically inhale the air out of Sasuke`s lungs, panting heavily, having the color of a tulip on her cheeks. "I-I am...so glad you are here."

The moment she got the taste of his nectar lips, Sakura realized that the feelings of emptiness into her stomach and the distressed loneliness, have been miraculously replaced by flitting playful dragonflies, in extreme contradiction with the languorous cold November rain drops puncturing the rusted lifeless leaves, that were resting under their feet.

Sasuke sneaked his own hands inside his pockets to hold her much smaller hands, trapping her hands between his own, blowing on them to warm them up.

He frowned at the way she was freezing, not liking how her creamy skin was covered in cold shivers. Even her voice sounded broken and he knew that his lady has faked nonchalance in front of her blonde haired friend. "You are cold."

"I _feel_ cold." Sakura relished into the welcoming warmth his hard steel body was radiating, burying her face in his collar, letting her senses be invaded by the soothing comfort he was providing.

She was aware of their exposed affectionate display and the danger of being seen and compromised by someone, but she didn't care in the bit, nor did she have to fake her smile and an indifferent pose in front of him.

Sasuke pressed a soft kiss on her forehead, frowning at the way people were whispering and pointing towards them as they passed and it was not because he was trying to protect his image, on the contrary, his only concern was Sakura's well being, but he couldn't deny himself from taking pleasure in the way she shuddered when he whispered huskily into her ear.

"Should I make it hot for you?"

"Take me somewhere...special. I don't want to be here." She didn't even try to enforce energy into her quivering voice, already feeling threatening burning tears pooling under her eyelids, anger and disappointment washing through her again. "I want to forget."

"This is nothing. You have to learn to accept. Obliviousness is for fools."

"Please, Sasuke, I don't want to go home." Sakura lifted her head towards her lover, searching for his understanding gaze, only finding acceptance and promising relish into his onyx eyes. "...his home or my mother's."

Sasuke only needed a blink of an eye to comply with her request. When it came to Sakura, nothing was more important. Nothing. "How long?" The lingering question on his lips came out as a hiss, the dismay present into the subtle hint suggesting her engaged state. "...will you be _mine _this time?"

"Sai is working on a portrait. I told him I will be at Ino's till later on. Girls chats last, he knows..." The unspoken words filled her eyes with melancholy. "...he doesn't care."

He lifted her chin towards his lips, gracing her soft eager lips with a chaste wet kiss. "But I do." Removing his frame from the tree, Sasuke united their fingers, taking a sad pink haired beauty with him, heading towards his car.

"We will go wherever you want. What you want to do, if it is with me, I will be yours to do as you please." Emerald eyes filled with tears at the earnest of his tone. "And if it is without me, I will be there to _watch_."

_/Every step you take, even if I am not walking beside you, we are taking all the steps together. I will always __observe./_

Sakura tightened her hold around his lean long fingers, feeling his power surging through her and all the sparkles and fireworks inside her chest burst once again. "I...let's walk...I want to be lazy...and drink something hot and sweet...hot chocolate with mint an oranges...and cinnamon like Christmas!"

There was this magic spell Sasuke had for always making her reminisce at the small cherished moments that counted as raw happiness, such as the bright colors of the red and green candles or the distinct flavor of vanilla and chestnuts of Christmas, in a spectacular winter mountain landscape with wild horses and cold rapid rivers.

Sakura could clearly see the light from Sasuke`s irises, gleaming like the luscious steel of a blade under the pale light of a flickering candle and it was electrifying. "...and I want to see my grandma's grave..." She felt him stiffen his shoulders for a brief, but it was gone as fast as a heartbeat, when he heard her unusual request, nodding once without questioning. And her last wish got him give her the most devilish smirk in the history. "...then I want to _have_ you."

She pulled her lower lip in between her teeth, feeling the pits of her abdomen boil like lava, even if there was a tiny voice playing her conscience that warned her he could have had his own business to attend and she was preventing him to do his job. "Do you have time for-"

"Sakura..." He was rubbing her wrist, pressing his thumb down her palm, relaxing her, approaching his car. "I don't need time to be with you. _You _are my time." He couldn't resist the need to pull her into his arms and kiss her jaw. "We are going to do _everything_ you want."

She arched her neck, putting a palm on his chest, letting out a soft moan, aware of the place she was.

Though, Sakura would not deny the arrogant uplifting feeling she had at the thought of her being seen climbing into a luxury vehicle, along with such a well known man. It was every woman's secret guilty little pleasure. "Sasuke...if...if I failed this exam...does this mean I am a fail-"

"No."

"But the others have-"

"You are not them. You are Sakura." A small smirk curled up possessively, painting his handsome face. "_My_ Sakura. A special woman."

"You are such a player." She teased playfully, climbing into the limo, while he held the door for her. "Always so poetic."

"You are a muse." Sasuke got in, beside his little emerald eyed vixen, immediately enfolding his arms around her waist, forcing her to rest into his lap and he got much pleasure when he saw her blushing and timidly averting her gaze. "And I love you."

The earnest confession always had the same effect on the pink haired woman, because next moment she knew, she had her hands entangled into his ebony hair, kissing him provocatively, hearing him chuckle at her antics. "Player, I keep telling you."

* * *

_/I am a seeker of this fantasies and if I stay with you, I know I can reach Paradise/_

* * *

**IV.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

"Grandma..." She brushed the dust on the name of her beloved deceased relative, carved neatly in golden paint on black marble. "How have you been lately?" Her voice came as a soft melancholic whisper, while she sent a quick prayer to Heavens, for her relative, wishing for her soul to rest in peace, among the blessed ones.

After lingering her gaze on the **sepia portrait** of her grandma who was smiling in front of the camera, clad in her silk and chiffon wedding dress, in that angelic forever young familiar way, being reminded of her butter cookies and rooibos caramel tea, Sakura kneed down, scraping the head of a match on the matchbook and holding the flame upon the candle she bought for the woman she loved so much, attempting to light it up.

Only...she had a little surprise, because it wouldn't light. She took another match, wondering if the head of the previous one might have been wet and tried once more, getting the same failed result. "Seriously?!"

But she almost had a heart attack, when Sasuke got closer to her, coming to rest beside the confused pink haired beauty, lifting a fine eyebrow at way she was trying her best to take care of such a simple job.

"Auch!" The moment he did that, the candle suddenly lighted with an intense lame, exploding, like a firework. almost burning her finger, then, just as unexpectedly, it ceased away. She dropped the candle down out of reflex, seeing it roll on the cement.

"Oh damn, is this broken or something?"

"Hn...clumsy."

"Why won't you try then?"

"I don't need to." She eyed him dumbfounded. Sasuke merely shrugged, slipping his palms into his pockets. "Her spirit is already surrounded by light."

She smiled softly, not getting the meaning, obliviously nodding once, agreeing. "Heh...you are so confident, like you would ever know. But you are probably right, she was amazing. And she loved me."

Carefully, not wanting to make anymore damage, the emerald eyed woman placed the beautiful bouquet of red roses and white lilies, her grandma's favorites, beside the funeral stone and stood up, embracing Sasuke`s torso, looking down at the grave.

"Sai doesn't know about this place and mom never comes. She and grandma never got along. It is my special secret place."

"You told _me_, so it doesn't count as a secret anymore."

"True. But I wanted you to know. It is no like you are going to tell anyone about it." And that guaranty she had was the reason why she always told Sasuke everything, even the most insignificant detail if it bothered her and he would listen, without making her feel inferior or stupid for her fears, knowing precisely what to say to brighten up her mood, like her precious secret diary.

A small smirk. "I will not."

She lifted her eyes to take in his serene stunning features and precise manly angles, and kissed his chin. "I am sure she would have liked you."

"This..." He started cryptically, already eloping Sakura's vigilance, but it was not in his intention to confuse her. It was something important for her, so that meant it was important for him as well. "...lefts no room for choices."

"Hm...?" She looked at him amused. "My, aren't you overconfident today? I think we..." She traced a finger on his neck, along his pulse, in a tickling manner, feeling him inhale sharply once under her caress. "...will have to _fix_ this today. Until it gets worse."

"I might have started without you realizing it." He took her hands that were holding him dearly, bringing her palms to her face level and leaned to kisser her fingers then the back of her wrist. "Skin so soft and supple...like hyacinth".

"Ahm..."She exhaled delighted at the small chills he stirred along her forearms. "Let's go. This wind is cold. I will not be surprised if it will snow-" she lost her train her thoughts, when her sharp forest green eyes caught the sight of a small girl, with the most beaming pure gold long locks she has ever seen, placing red gladiolus on graves, at random.

Sakura couldn't help, but follow the fluttering of her snow white dress and wool yellow cardigan with curious eyes.

Even if Sakura knew that poor orphans used to place flowers on the graves, there was an unusual light the kid had and her innocence was striking and entrapping, visible through her smallest gestures, like the way her meticulous fingers placed the flowers on the marble vases, or her pure clear big eyes looking at the name of the person she was commemorating.

Like almost sensing the pair of stunned eyes looking in her general direction, the strange girl kid unexpectedly spun on her heels and turned around, smiling brightly at her and the pink haired lady could have sworn they beamed pearl white at some point. "Sakura."

She parted her lips and returned the smile, waiving her hand at her, not paying attention to Sasuke. "What an enchanting child." She said dreamy. Sasuke followed the direction of Sakura's object of amazement, furrowing his eyebrows at the little girl, his smoldering jet eyes boring into her cerulean ones.

At the sight of the raven haired Uchiha, the kid's smile suddenly vanished of her face. Her lips turned into a small 'oh', like she has just been caught in the act, then turned her back on the couple, running in the opposite direction.

Sakura's both precise eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "Ha?! This is...strange. I wonder if I scared her." She turned her head over her shoulders to look at Sasuke. "Am I scary Sasuke?"

"She smiled for you." A quick look at his lady's expression let Sasuke know that she was silently asking him if that was a bad omen, so he explained further. "She likes you."

The usual graceful smile he loved found its way back on her red wine lips. "She was beautiful. Poor orphan children. All of them are-"

"_Angels_." He went on smoothly, in his low baritone voice, like it was no big deal. Sakura had an innate sensibility and she got emotional over things normal people would have been too shallow and narrow minded to observe. And it was one of the things he found irresistible at her.

"Well yes. I guess you could put it like this. They are just like angels on Earth."

He nodded once at her, placing a hand around her waist, while she mirrored his movement, heading back towards the massive iron old cemetery entrance gate.

Acting on pure reflex, Sakura snuggled closer to the midnight haired man, slightly shivering. The wind has unexpectedly intensified.

* * *

_/It is easy to lose myself into the infinite azure, but I feel your hand leading me down to earth/_

* * *

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked absentmindedly. It was not like she actually cared, but she was following the fine like of the horizon, parting the peaceful landscape in between the sky and the sea. "Your yacht?" Nevertheless, she observed they were not heading towards the harbor.

"Not this time." He answered smoothly and sensually nibbling her ear shell, making her quiver. She could never forget their moments on his luxury yachts. Exuberant champagne and white olives, caviar, midnight cruises and the hottest rounds of love making, in all the places they could have thought of and in all the positions imaginable.

"Hmm...It looks like you are full of surprises today, aren't you?"

"You know me."

"I like it."

"Hn."

As soon as the flashy car came to a stop right beside the beach, Sakura already felt her senses invigorated at the salty marine cool air, invading her nostrils.

She got off the car, taking off her heels to let her feet be massaged by the fine sand, taking enchanted small steps towards the milk sea foam brushing the sea shore.

Sasuke followed her suit, taking in her general appearance, up to the smallest detail. The gentle wet breeze was blowing through her long cashmere tresses, fluttering over her shoulders, and her long skirt was following the motion of her elegant strides, undulating around her thighs and gazelle ankles.

He licked his lips wickedly, feeling his body temperature raise. He couldn't help to have her again, that was the reason why he brought her there, where barely anyone went at that hour.

"Look at the waves, Sasuke! Beautiful!"

"Aa." He came behind the pink haired lady, folding his arms around her curvy hips, kissing her neck and blowing into her ear, making her skin fill with goose bumps. She wanted him in that moment like she needed air and the idea of having sex with him on the beach was thrilling.

It was already dawn and the bloody crepuscule made her mind get filled with devious thoughts. "But not as beautiful as you."

"Sasuke..." She tilted her head, bringing her hand towards his ebony locks, pulling his head closer, massaging his scalp. "I want you."

"I am yours whenever you want me."

"_Noww_!" She mewled, melting under his touch, while his palm was fidgeting with the hem of her velvet blouse, finding its way underneath, caressing her creamy skin, massaging her delicate rounded breast above the lace bra she wore, giving it a little squeeze.

"...and forever." Sakura turned around to face her beloved onyx eyed man, mashing their lips together, in a passionate kiss. Soon, their hands flew in all the right places, discovering, probing, pleasing, demanding contact and their passion burst ardently, like lotuses in bloom.

Sasuke got a hold of her wrists, lowering his body on the sand, pulling her down to rest on his lap, with her legs straddling his slim waist, licking her lips and helping her discard of the coat that was only un the way, while she did the same to him.

Low temperatures and sharp wind? It was the last thing in their intoxicated minds, while they got lost into each other's hungry fondlings, intently making out like the first time they made love.

Feeling the need grow unbelievably high, constricting her lower abdomen, radiating along her parted thighs, shooting in between her legs, Sakura pressed the knowingly smirking jet haired Uchiha`s shoulders down, pushing him to rest on his back, hovering above him. "Sasuke, I want it to be hot and rough." She told him without a shame, low and sultry.

"You know I like to be gentle."

"True. But I don't want you to be this time." Sakura knew what she needed and that was oblivion.

She absolutely adored the attention she got from Sasuke each time and the patience he had with her body needs and gentleness into his moves, but she wanted to succumb to his inner animalistic fierceness and forget the things that were shaking her self confidence, by screaming his name in ecstasy.

She knew what he was capable of when he wanted and she wanted him to fuck her brains out, until she ran out of breath and energy.

But for the moment, she would take full advantage of the way he offered her his body to do what she wished, by resting on his elbows, enough for her to have a full view, but to allow him to watch her evertime, like a hawk.

Sakura's craft impatient fingers hurriedly unbuttoned his white suit shirt, pulling it open, uncovering his divine carved upper body, already feeling her mouth water at the sight welcoming her.

"Damn Sasuke..." In the slightly flexed way he was staying she could clearly make out every precise contour of his rippling muscles and, even tough she has seen many well built men, hospital patients included, never in her life has she seen someone that _perfect_.

"...you are fucking _hot_!" Sakura wouldn't feel any restrain to dirty talk to him, getting horny. She climbed him, fisted her hands into his shirt and alternated the wet kisses on his broad chest with slow, tantalizing licks and sucklings down his marvelous sculpted eight pack. "Hungry?" He teased, following the way she trailed her tongue over his body, covering him in hot saliva, the sight pure passionate.

Sakura grounded her hips on his own forcefully, sitting in between his bent knees, attacking his neck. "You have no idea."

And she felt herself get wet at the throaty growl he gave, when she pressed her canines down his pulse, rubbing the sensitive skin in between her teeth, until it got bruised, sucking and brushing her lips over the throbbing area and the new formed hickey. Oh, that man was hers, she had her mark.

Sasuke took a fist of her pink locks, revealing the side of her ling neck and ear, flicking his tongue over her earlobe, then circling the tip over her ear shell, feeling butterfly tremors decorating her forearms, while she was focusing her attention on his shoulders and collarbone. "Show me."

"Mmmmnn...if you please."

Her hands worked on his belt like a whirlwind, getting his pants loose, just to have enough room for a palm to glide down on the navy boxers that were hanging deliciously low on his hips, setting his erect member free from its bindings, through the front opening, vexing him with two probing pumps, feeling him take in a harsh gulp of air.

Without expecting any other invitation, Sakura flipped her long locks over her shoulder, gave him an enrapturing smile that promised pleasure and fulfilled fantasies and, enveloping the thick base of his engorged shaft, lowered her mouth onto him, until she felt the milking tip hitting the back of her throat.

He tasted and felt just as amazing as Sakura always remembered, so as soon as she made sure that she found a position to allow her to breathe and not choke, started to suck him ravenously, rolling her tongue occasionally over the pulsating tiny veins of his shaft and flicking it over its rosy bundle of nerves at the end, moaning at how his body reacted under her touch.

He was basically melting into her mouth, whenever she took him in as far as he could go, clamping him with her lips, to increase the friction. Sakura was no nun or a saint, as she was well aware of what she was doing, but orally pleasuring Sasuke was one of her dirty little secrets...among others.

The way she was feeling his hotness down her throat and the way he grew harder every time she pulled her head up, then lowering it back down, with ample moves made her had spin, turning her on.

Sasuke let the back of his head fall in between his shoulder blades, feeling his clenched eyes roll in pleasure, while he couldn't fight back the temptation to search for a skin contact with his hand, succeeding in unclasping her bra, spreading her full chest free for him to play with her body, massaging her breasts and pulling her nipples, as far as he could reach. "Fuck...y-you are fucking amazing..."

She ate him all until she covered him soaked in saliva and slick sperm, gleaming in the moonlight. Her stomach clenched in hunger, the moment she let go of the dripping in semen tip with a pop, eying him seductively. "Need anything?"

He gripped her chin and forced his tongue inside the moment she opened her mouth to taste his juices combined with her saliva. The mix between salty and sweet was maddening. She massaged his balls while he ravaged her mouth making him hard. She felt him poke her stomach while she leaned further into his lap.

He arched his neck, letting his head hang backwards, allowing her to take her time and suck him as much as she pleased, enjoying her heavenly velvet lips clamping around him and her tongue tasting every part she wished.

And she had ravenous desires and a great hand that moved frantically over the length, making up for the parts her mouth couldn't swallow.

The way she revealed in front of him when she eagerly lowered her chin, undulating all her torso to prolong the sucking and increase the power of her suction was throwing him over the age.

She was using a hand on his parted knee as support, occasionally gliding it along his thigh and it aroused him more. "Damn it...you are good!"

Of course, Sakura mentally agreed. She had much practice in giving him blowjobs after all. She lost the count of how much oral sex they had, especially on days she couldn't do it properly, but it was not something that held her back from making him feel good.

"I love the way you taste." She said in between her short breaks of air. She was panting from so much holding her breath, sweat drops rolling from her neck in the valley of her full breasts and her messy locks were unruly cascading down her shoulders, fluttering in the wind and her chin and lips were covered in fine tiny lines of mixed essences. Her emerald eyes rivaled sparking diamonds under the flicker of a candle bathed in lust and maze.

Oh dear Heavens, he felt his abdomen muscles throb like million pumps at the sight of her. Sakura was beyond gorgeous and the ocean behind her made infinity appear a tiny drop on the grass blade in the summer mornings.

She took over the landscape and Sasuke acknowledged his primal way to love her carnally and take her like an untamed demon, until she was going to not recognize the surroundings.

She licked his groins and abs after she pressed her lips at the base of his member, giving him a wet kiss, then gently lifted his member up, though it didn't come as a hard thing to do since it was standing erect, pointing proudly towards her, praising her for the attention she gave him, revealing his full of semen bouncing balls.

Sakura took a lick on the wrinkled elastic soft skin, relishing in the pulsating warmth. She paid much attention not to lose it and bit him like she grew desperate to do, because she knew it was a delicate hot spot.

But she took one ball and suckled on it, using the tip of her tongue to flicker over it while she took him into her mouth, pulling gently, making him entangle his fingers into her hair, pulling at it, panting and growling like a caged lion.

Sakura allowed herself a moment to inhale properly and steal a glance at the ravishing man she was having squirming under her touches and chanting her name.

His neck was deeply arched making his broad chest and lean toned shoulders ripple delightfully, looking two times bigger, his hands were pressed into the sand and his arms were spread on his sides like he was crucified and she could only see his regal sharp chin from that position because his head was resting backwards.

She grew wet and slick like an avocado fruit crept open at the sight of him. His splendor and beauty was unbearable. She grew so hungry of him.

Even revealed like vulnerable in front of her, so exposed, Sasuke radiated an intoxicating raw but calculated power that made her paralyzed in thrill. Like a dominating divinity in his natural element.

Sakura was covering his shaft into her kisses, while she spread her hands on his chest, leaving nails scratches along his cashmere pearl white skin.

She couldn't wait to have him inside her again...and again until she made sure he remained there forever. Her body felt incomplete without his warmth.

"Sakura..." She knew what he wanted from the moment she felt his index dragging the strap of her bra down her right shoulder, through the blouse she wore, so she quickly undressed of the expensive articles-his gift-of clothing she wore, griping the hem of her blouse and pulling it up her head, discarding them on the sand beside them, shuddering at the cool wind brushing her bare torso.

"Damn I miss summer." Sakura quickly resumed her previous position, fisting him and moving her hand up and down, trailing her tongue on his full of semen balls, taking one into her mouth, gently suckling him, while his hand roamed untamed from her mounds and ribs, under her skirt, following the curves of her firm ass, slipping his fingers in front of her panties, rubbing her folds. She was dripping wet and burning.

"Hn..." Sasuke couldn't argue with her. Their long sex rounds at night on the beach were something to look out for. He laughed like a crazy man at how her fiancé thought she was volunteering to the orphanage.

Sasuke knew that at the way she was moving her mouth on his manhood, he wouldn't be able to resist much. The agonizing clench on his lower abdomen and pulsating sensation on his testicles were a solid proof of his longing for release, but he wanted her to feel pleasure as well. "Enough." As far as he was concerned, only Sakura stimulating him was not fair for her.

She let go of him, licking her lower lip to wipe away her combined saliva with his semen, eying him confused. She couldn't have possibly thought she did something wrong, Sasuke read into her hazel darkened eyes. "Sasuk-"

"Turn around in all your fours." He urged her, slightly panting. She nodded once at him, getting the message. He was aware of what she wanted, though it didn't seem right to take such advantage of an intimate act that connected men and women. But it was her desire and he didn't judge.

Sakura did as she has been instructed, resting on her knees and planted her palms on the sand, knowing what she should expect.

And anticipation was killing her slowly, because all her fibers were calling for the fulfillment and hotness that his hard rock body provided.

Sasuke simply lifted the end of her long skirt above her waist, pulling down her lace thong, smirking at her incredibly aroused state. "Already so eager? Hm, Sakura?"

Sasuke felt his unfathomable onyx eyes lit at the fragrance of her soaked inner lips, glistening with her slick juices and fresh clean lingerie. Everything about her radiating authentic womanhood and it made him go insane for her. "Don't tease me Sasuke. I want you so bad."

"You say this but..."Sasuke lifted her ass up, holding her hips tightly towards him, with his nails pressed into her rounded bones, keeping her in place."...I want to hear you _scream_ it." He threatened darkly and huskily, while he exposed her intimate womanly parts to his hungry stare.

She was beyond perfection in his eyes and Sasuke couldn't help but trail his palm towards the places he would soon ravage, in a feather like touch, imprinting every part of her unblemished skin into his skull.

Sakura' s insides were quivering at the attention she got. She knew what he tried to say and what his hidden message was, deciphering his latent thoughts one by one, through the small gestures he did, and she just wanted to turn around and hug him.

It was what she never had, before he came into her life: care, longing, possessiveness, consideration, genuine attraction and unconditional love. Never once has Sasuke left her the impression that he was using her or toying with her.

Sakura discovered her natural charm as a woman through Sasuke. He was the only one that looked at her in a mature way and his gaze was not juvenile and lustful, like a teenager unable to hold his hormones on a leash.

His look held a noble refinement and he helped her discover her latent womanhood and enjoy an erotic unrestrained passion, that was carnal by nature, but amazingly exquisite through its meaning.

He held and touched her like she mattered and Sakura was discovering the shy Eve within her, because Sasuke was there to lead and witness her growth and no one could tell her she was beautiful like he did.

Like it was an universal truth and he was the reputed researcher who discovered her grace and turned it into a fact.

She grew to enjoy the charisma of a heel that gave a charming playfulness and sensuality of the ankles and she gained self confidence enough for her to dare to proudly wear vivid red on her usually pastel lips. Sasuke helped her cover the innocence with radiating eternal feminine and she was in cloud nine when he let his body do the praise.

Sakura never would have had imagined she would look forward to wear lingerie to lure a man and conjure the latent beast within him, but everything around Sasuke held another significance. Of course, his ardent sapphire black orbs beamed with honesty and love and it tore her mind in pieces with thirst for him.

From the timid obscure young lady and an aspiring medic, Sakura transformed into a woman and it was all thanks to a powerful man guarding her from the shadows. She knew he was always there and it gave her strength to fight. To constantly feel secure and needed, adored and cherished by someone was the most sensational thing ever.

She was not feeling lost anymore. If Sakura would have liked to do something spontaneous and crazy, like rendezvous him in the middle of the night, akin to the shy teenagers snooping to steal stolen kisses away from their parent's curious eyes, she could have had him with a simple call or message, never mind the late hour.

She even did it one or twice, when she felt that she would suffocate at home, with her mother's constant reproached tone and insults.

She called her secret lover at 3 am, when the streets were empty and the city lights were shut and asked him to meet in the park. She has escalated on the window and waited for him in a romantic scenery, under a willow tree. He was there five minutes later, though he never told her how he made it so fast.

And she didn't care ether, because a moment later, the stillness of the night found them trapped into each other's cuddle, kissing like all get out. And his smell never synthesized with the ones of the tilia better.

"Then make me shout it out loud how much I want you." She shut her emerald eyes and exhaled sharply once, when she felt the tip of a lean long finger pushed inside her small ass opening, curling around the elastic cartilage, stretching her from the inside. "Ah!"

"Patience honey, I want to feel you up more." Truth to be told, Sasuke could have spent his whole day just exploring her alluring body, to discover more secret spots he was not aware of, but he was aware of how uncomfortable it was at first, to accommodate him when he entered her ass, so he deliberately took his time to properly prepare her.

Even if she tried her best to hide it, Sakura still stiffened her shoulders when she tried to anticipate the moment and that nagged him. So he took his finger into his mouth to water it, then inserted it back into the small hole, taking advantage of the wetness of her core as well.

"Relax, either way it is going to be painful."

"No, you-" Sakura knew about his hesitation, but it was not something she didn't want and that was why she wanted to assure him he could take her in whatever position or way he wanted, but she chocked on her words, when he replaced his slim digit, with his much firm erect penis. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it was not something new. It was mind blowing for both of them, she searched for it and he was giving it to her.

"Ohh!" The moment Sasuke found himself firmly planted inside her tight body, he allowed her a second to get used to his well endowed intrusion, then rocked back and forth, thrusting inside her, slowly but firmly, while she had her fingers circled under the sand. He almost came right there and then at how_ good_ she felt.

Sakura thought she was not going to be able to hold on her sanity, because of the way her mind had a shut down and her body felt like exploding, squirming and quivering under him.

There were sand crystals glowing on her pink hair and she was rubbing her breasts and nipples on the abrasive surface, starting to reciprocate and meet his pushes halfway. "Sasuke!"

"Damn you are..." Sasuke had problems in regulating his breaths, mentally trying to control himself and not burst inside her, until she came too. All his toned muscles were burning and he had rivulets of sweat leaking from his forehead, rolling down to his jaw.

He rocked her faster, hearing her small cries of pleasure, heaving tears of exhilaration in her foggy unfocused eyes. It was so great that it came as painful to withstand.

Sakura felt his hotness planted inside her up to her small back, tearing her innards and it was crazy. He filled her lower body completely with the richness of his well gifted asset.

In that very moment, Sakura felt like a bubble waiting to explode. She was beyond wet and her core was dripping milky essences immixing into the sand. She was imploring him brokenly to stop prolonging her agony.

An intense orgasm was building up into the pits of her abdomen, but she wanted to pull her hair at how much she needed him to be into another hole.

The more he moved in and out of her ass, the greater was the painful contraction of her inner walls. Her clit and folds were hardened beyond belief and she couldn't withstand it any longer.

"S-Sasuke...I beg you...fuck my..." As incredibly as it was, Sakura didn't quite like to voice out such words. It was another story when he was doing it. She just felt she lacked the skill and proper vocabulary and sexiness.

"Your…what? Say it, love." He glided into her faster, feeling his eyes bulge out of his skull at the immense friction with her passage, almost giving in to the battle and coming right on the spot. "Is this not enough?"

He was toying with her mind, because Sasuke could clearly see how her body poured all its nectar out of her, probably tormenting her and the poor lady was helplessly dragging her nails into the wet sand, digging small ditches like she wanted to escape from the overwhelming pressure, but at the same time she didn't. "Uhhhn...c'mon change...go inside me-"

He and his dirty talk were always throwing Sakura over the edge. It was one thing when he did it, but she was not that sensual, although he kept with provoking her. It was not her fault that only medical terms came to her mind.

"But I am inside you, Sakura. Or, would you possibly want me even _deeper_?" Sasuke did a harsh particular thrust until she felt him hit her back, making her slap her forehead down on the ground, fisting her hands.

"Ahhhh! N-no...just...fuck! I want you to enter my vagina, please!"

"Is that so? Well then...I already promised you I will do anything you want me to." He removed his shaft from her for a moment, pressing his chest on her back, gluing his jaw on her cheek, slipping a finger under her chin and kissing her hungrily taking whatever breath she had left, from her lungs.

From that position, she only managed to hold onto his longer ebony bangs, while their lips found themselves entangled into a feverous dance, as their tongues were perfectly communicating into a battle for dominance, where Sakura was the defeated party.

He was everywhere inside her, making his way in, forcefully, but not intrusively, slowly and silently filling her in.

In a blink of an eye, she found herself screaming his name upon his lips, when he entered her fluidly and swiftly, like a vigorous rapid river stream, rocking her hips with the usual ferocity and abandonment, making the burning need inside her stomach flash like a blizzard.

"Mmmm...S-Sasu..." She wanted to say something, anything she could to let him know how much she wanted what he did to her and how important his presence was, but he sucked the answer from the lips he was keeping trapped in between his own, rolling his tongue over her pearl set of small teeth, massaging her own with sharp strokes.

Sakura fisted her palm into the sand to keep herself as steady as she could, while her other was pulling his rich hair, not able to withstand the indescribable pleasure surging through her. He was so hot moving in and out of her and it just blew her mind.

"_SASUKE_!" Her ecstatic scream broke out of her sore throat, in the same rapid tempo as the rippling waves crushing on the shoreline, sealing her lover's name into the sharp cliffs and sparkling sand, over and over again, until the end of time.

Rolling milky sea foam brushed her fingertips, washing away the tiny particles of sand from her nails, cooling down the erratic pulse throbbing inside her wrists. She used her forearm as a cushion for her cheek, briefly closing her tired hazel eyes, inhaling the salty ocean breeze, letting it flood her out of breath burning lungs.

"...I love you...so damn much..." She chanted to him in between her tears, as a prayer that was going to reach, not only his ears, but the faint sparkling stars above as well.

She felt the rapture of his honey lips brushing her neck, pressing smooth unruly frenetic kisses, like the dreamy aimless fluttering of ladybirds and a strong hand winding her waist, lifting her up, just so he could snuck his hands under her knees and scooped her up, heading towards the sea. She vaguely noticed he has somehow, managed to get them both completely naked.

Sakura let her temple rest in the crock of his neck, lazily taking in the nature's sumptuous wonders, in the form of the two infinite worlds-sea and sky-so perfectly blending together, just like she and the raven haired man did every time they met.

She focused on listening to the simplest little miracles that the universe clearly provided, such the splash of water hitting Sasuke`s skin while he let their bodies slowly submerge and engulf their feet, or the solemn symphony of the wind stirring waves upon the crystal azure surface of the sea and it was magical, sumptuous and relaxing.

"Sasuke...it is cold..." Sakura observed when he turned her around into his arms, the moment water went up to his shoulders. She wasted no time in folding her hands around his neck and hooking her legs around his lean waist, nuzzling closer to the sole source of undying warmth around.

She felt his fingers dance on her sides, tickling her ribcage, making her giggle at the tremors he provoked. "Hn...then I suppose we should warm you up."

"You are burning...or so I feel. But I _love _it!" The pink haired lady tilted her head and parted her lips to cage his own, in a chaste loving kiss, moaning at the way he responding with slow, deep strokes of his own, cupping her jaw to keep her in a perfect angle for him to taste her.

"Mmmm..." There were still traces of her wild cherries and Shea butter lipstick decorating her silky lips and it drove Sasuke insane with need, urging him to love her and feel her on and on, satiating his need for her. Only for her. He wanted no other that the woman in his arms.

Sakura...his ethereal mermaid, who lulled him with her melodic ardent confessions and mild wine glass refined curves. She had him under her spellbound and he was willingly succumbing into her calling, answering her needs, no matter which they were.

Love, understanding, sex, money and power, Sasuke would unconditionally give them all to her, because he could and he wanted to.

The only requirement for it to happen...was for Sakura to accept them _willingly._ He would never force her into anything. That was for people like Sai. But he was _different_ than the rest.

In more than one way.

Because he was the figment of her ideal man. A secret desire she couldn't have and striven to accomplish. And that...was the moment when he answered her call.

The sole thing that kept her connected to that world and prevented her to fly and turn into a **white magnolia**, whose pure petals danced on the wings of a delicate breeze.

"I love the way you kiss me." Sakura told Sasuke in between their passionate caresses, mentally blaming her mortal condition for the need of air. She never wanted to break away from their lip lock. "How can you kiss me like that?"

It was crazy how sweet and velvety soft his thin lips were and the emerald eyed woman couldn't have any restrain when it came to pull the smooth flesh in between her teeth and eat his mouth, literary, like a hungry vampire princess.

Sakura was well aware of the occasionally bits of her canines down Sasuke`s lower lips that made small drops of hot blood taint the throbbing tissue when her kisses turned into something more primal and carnal, but it made her core dampen when she licked it and tasted his very life on her tongue. "Because I love you Sakura and you like it because you can feel it."

He gave her a deviously erotic smirk, making her cheeks flame as the orange and crimson crepuscule. He adored her wild feline attitude, like a deadly graceful lioness defending her territory. "Because I _allow _you to feel _me._"

Sasuke`s rich alluring sensual baritone voice sent Sakura reeling into bliss, and the subtle hint of selfish possessiveness and the seductive domination reverberating through his chest made her forest green eyes go vivid in need.

"Say it again. Say you love me Sasuke. I need to hear someone that doesn't scold me or judge me." Her quivery faint whisper got lost between the rapid waves washing their forms and the deserted beach.

Sasuke caressed her delicate cheek in a feather like elegant manner, with his thumb, kissing her forehead, then her both eyes, tracing the tip of his tongue along the fading damp lines of her salty tears, then her small nose, lastly kissing her mouth fully, slowly, barely moving his lips upon her own in ample strokes, feeling her shoulders tremble, like she wanted so much to cry in emotion, but she didn't want him to misunderstand.

"I love you, my angel. I will always love you and I am going to say it for as many times you want to hear it, even in your sleep."

_'Even when you die...and after that...you are going to be mine and no one elses.'_

An unreasonable thought, the product of her troubled mind, almost escaped Sakura's vocal chords when she sensed the genuine emotions into Sasuke`s answer, and that would have been to tell the sole living that ever told her she meant the world for him, to take the remaining steps towards the vast sea, until the water would have swallowed their forms completely, let the infinite horizon wash away their traces forever and die along with him.

She had a peace of mind and a blooming ravishing happiness enfolding its petals, like a daisy under the sun rays, making her heart fill with beaming light of love and completion and she wanted to die right now and imprint the memory forever, making sure it was going to follow her in the after life as well.

"Thank you. For loving me the way you do. How can I be so lucky to have you? I did nothing to deserve you, yet you are here whenever I want you and no one holds me like you do."

Sakura parted the soft damp locks in the rich color of ebony, rivaling the darkness surrounding them, away from Sasuke`s onyx eyes that she adored, marveling at his face. The moon was reflecting into the water and it made his sharp masculine features glow mysteriously. "No one ever looked at me like you do."

"It is because they don't deserve what they don't know how to cherish, Sakura." He leaned into her touch, caressing her cheek and massaging her neck, while she played into his hair, twirling his longer strands around her index, studying his face.

Sakura leaned in for another kiss, letting one hand slide down the lean planes of his pectoral muscles and shoulders, rotating her hips once, feeling the so familiar need for him grow longingly into the pits of her lower regions. "Please love me Sasuke."

He gave her a small nod, smirking knowingly at her, aiming at her neck, sucking on her pulse, while her palm went in between their glued bodies, holding his already hardened member that was rubbing inside her thigh, dragging her fingers along the foreskin, pumping him teasingly.

She felt a hand going on her ass, squeezing her hard, making her bit her lip to stop a moan. She arched her neck to give his expert tongue more access to roam freely.

"Hmmm..." The moment her thumb pressed on the tip of his manhood, feeling drops of his milky semen under her fingertip, Sakura lifted her body up, easily fighting the gravity, with the help of the water around, directing him in between her legs, aligning her core with the dripping in pre-cum head and without prolonging their needs further, dug her nails down his biceps and swallowed him in, lowering her body onto his hips, until she took all of him inside.

"Ah!" With all the rinse around, he was basically sliding in and out of her without any restraint, the only sensation getting in return being her inner muscles stretching to welcome him where he fitted.

"You set the peace." Sasuke growled at her menacingly deep, while his head disappeared underwater.

And the moment Sakura felt a hot mouth suckle her nipple, biting down her wrinkled areola and pulling the rosy bud, flicking his tongue over her breast, combined with the cold water slightly paralyzing her skin, she got the new definition of torturous pleasure.

"Sasuke..." She took a generous fist of his unbelievably silk slightly curled at the ends raven locks, shutting her eyes tight, moaning loudly at the friction between them, while she rode him at the content of her heart, feeling an immense pleasure flaming inside her core.

And she even found an unexpected angle while she grounded her hips harder onto his own, to help her rub her inner folds and swollen clit on the base of his member, where he was the thickest and it made her throw her head backwards in ecstasy.

"My God...ohh!" Sasuke smirked down at they was she was riding her orgasm, following the way her damp cherry blossom tresses were splashing on her small back, each time she pushed her full exposed chest into his mouth, fucking him at the content of her heart. Her body was trembling like a guitar's string, under the expert fingers of the player, in a new definition of inspiration and fascinating melodies.

Too bad she was too slick for him to feel any sort of friction, because Sasuke truly enjoyed the way her thick passage scraped his shaft, but he knew it was comfortable for her and her comfort mattered more than his dark fantasies. "I am no saint, though I love it when you beg."

"R-reciprocate...Sasuke..." She knew what she wanted him to do and that was for the onyx eyes Uchiha to meet her pumps halfway and thrust inside like she knew he was able to.

And he did just like that, locking her thighs around his arms, forcing her to lower her upper body down and rest her heels on his hips, bringing her womanhood higher and spreading her wider, hitting her better.

Her head almost sank into the water, but she uses her tight grip on him to bring it up and rest her forehead on his chest.

"Of course, love..." Sakura pressed her nails into Sasuke`s strong forearms, scratching his pale skin deep, trembling into his embrace, letting high pitched cries of rapture blend into his throaty growls, enjoying the sound of their frenetic bodies grinding together in all the hot places and the feel of their wet skin hitting madly under the water.

The effort they were putting in keeping balance and move faster was making the pleasure grow ten times more intense.

To feel the raven haired man under her touch, as simple as a timid brush of his high regal cheek bones or a hard passionate thrust straight to the hilt, hitting her sweet secret spot that only he was aware of, until he made her get dry of juices, was the most amazing thing for Sakura.

He always found a way to transform every precious moment together into a fairytale like encounter and the picturesque scenery with only their meandering steps imprinted on the soft cool sand and their figures getting lost in passion, surrounded by rolling rapid waves, was magical.

So magical that she almost fantasized about it as being part of a cruel _dream _that was meant to be gone along with the sunrise.

* * *

'Then don't ever _wake up.' _A fading whisper silently suggested.

* * *

Unlike many other times, Sasuke stopped playing into her hair or fondling her delicate rounded breasts and simply encircled her much smaller shoulders with his arms, hugging her tight to her body, resuming to only swing his hips harder, but slower, making love to her in the most intimate and meaningful way possible, and before he kissed her until he felt her try to inhale the very oxygen from his lungs, as the only life force existing at her disposal, he told her serenely: "Every part of this world I possess, it is yours to have, along with my every fiber, my only love."

After what seemed like forever-not that time had any relevance when she was with Sasuke- she came agonizingly hard, in a rippling orgasm engulfing her senses, throwing her into a bottomless abyss of passion, lust, innate wanting and unbearable pleasure.

Feeling each particle of energy leaking out of her body, along with their combined essences, Sakura brought her chin on Sasuke`s shoulder, resting her head, while her arms found their way around his torso, embracing him.

Tiredness never felt so refreshing and mind blowing. "Don't!" She absolutely protested when he attempted to pull his flush member out of her, not ready to lose the contact.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Then stay inside me...a little longer." She tightened her hug, feeling the barely there distance plaguing her mind. She would die without him, like a sun flower without light.

For her, Sasuke was like eating a dessert, knowing that the delicious taste would fade away when she would finish and she hated that. She wanted to feel him constantly, firmly planted inside her body and mind and he possessed the former.

Because he was always the object of her dreams. Each night when her eyelids shut, Sakura saw him. But Sasuke didn't mean to cause her discomfort, well aware that they were doing it often and more than once per day, and he has also witnessed her sometimes being sore, but she stubbornly longed for their lovemaking, assuring him that she was fine. "As much as you need."

A playful hand was lightly combing her cool damp hair in a relaxing manner, making Sakura tremble at the feeling.

She let butterfly kisses on the enchanting man's sculpted shoulders and neck, licking her lips to taste the salty marine drops of water on his sweaty skin and it was one of the most exquisite things she ever had.

For a spicy stoic male, Sasuke was amazingly sweet and soft, just like the combination she most loved.

Like the smooth texture of the frappe milky foam and she was an addict. She could even quit smoking, but Sakura couldn't give up on him and she would make sure she was not going to lose him, even if she had an arranged marriage, she would figure a way out without making it hard for anyone.

"I want to eat you alive, Sasuke."

"Hn. I will not stop you...though I might reciprocate." He provoked her, speaking low and sultry, just like he knew it turned her on, secretly enjoying the feel of her sloppy touches. He worn her out again, like usual, but it was her fault for being so stunning.

"That…if you can catch me!" Without further notice, Sakura pulled away from him and threw her body into the water, taking two strokes under to put some teasing distance between them, resurfacing in all her naked glory, like a mermaid, spreading sparkling drops of water, in the form of particles of crystal beaming under the moonlight, surrounding her body, laughing at the onyx eyed man, who was following her antics with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Sasuke! Come and play! I bet I can escape you!" She challenged.

"You will _never_ escape me, Sakura." As agile and swiftly like a shark, Sasuke lunged forward, diving into the surrounding sea with his hands thrown in front of his head, swimming towards a giggling amused pink haired beauty.

Seeing him approach her fast, Sakura let out a short cry of thrill, feeling her racing heart shot up on her throat, fighting the adrenaline rush and headed towards the shore, where the water level was not that deep and she could feel the bottom under her feet. "Ah!"

Soon, the stillness of the night filled with their chasing game and Sakura was the leading soprano, because of her high pitched feminine voice.

For a moment, the Uchiha followed her bare frame undulating into the water, with her frame seeming to float, like a free spirit stepping on the veils of time. The moon's rays made her pearl skin glow in a blue hint.

Sakura was trying to get away from him like she was walking on the moon, the drops of water on her body sparkled ethereal blue, like a nimph defying universal facts that pushed the barrier of beauty, elegance and refinement to another level.

Sasuke took in the innocent curl of Sakura`s lips, melodically complementing her soft bell laugh, and the way she was batting her hands, like a butterfly spreading wings to flutter towards the azure, splashing water towards him, to try and keep the distance and her vitality and radiant exuberance sent sparks of longing feelings that he thought forgotten somewhere in the pits of his rejuvenated drumming heart.

"It is not fair, I can't swim like that!"

"I told you I will always find a way to you. You are not going to escape me." He disappeared underwater, catching her ankle, pulling her down, immediately encircling her waist with his arm, bringing her towards him. She didn't trash into his arm or fight to go up, because she knew she was safe with him.

They resurfaced immediately, with a firm push on the soft sand under his feet, both dripping wet, amused. Sakura blinked rapidly to remove the salty water from her eyes. "Whoa!"

"Hn...and here I thought you will be much more of a challenge." He replied arrogantly, but playfully. She threw her hands around hid neck, kissing him fully and passionately, giggling upon his lips, when she bit his lower lip to take back on what he proudly stated, making him grunt like a hurt puma. It was as sexier as he could get.

"You are so full of yourself."

"But you _love_ me nonetheless." He replied stroking her back and shoulders, tightening his embrace, stealing another chaste kiss from her. "Look."

He spun her around into his arms, bringing her back firmly secured onto his chest, forcing her to look in front of her.

Sakura brought her palms to cover her widely open mouth, united in a praying mode and her eyes filled with rapid tears, visibly moved. "Wow...this is...Sasuke, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!"

Along the shoreline, bioluminescent organisms were sparkling blue and green, in a magnificent spectrum of light and Sakura felt her soul dematerialize and float above the open sea.

They were radiating a powerful light, mirrored into the crystal water and it was like a divine aura emerging from the pits of the sea. It was breathtaking.

She let the back of her head lean under his chin, while Sasuke secured a hand around her chest and the other enveloping her tummy, while her pulse was thumping into her eardrums.

It was so magical, that she couldn't brush away the powerful feeling of supreme peace of mind and security that wrapped her soul. The moment was perfect, the surrounding place was coming to life like a page from a fairytale and the man she loved was covering her shoulders in kisses.

She got the world. Sasuke has collected all the precious moments since the beginning of time and placed them at her feet. "You knew!" She detached from his arms, pacing towards the sparkling blue, amazed. "Sasuke, you knew I will see this!"

He nodded once, heading towards her. She turned around to embrace him, while the beaming light surrounded their feet, making their silhouettes look like that belonged to the sea. "I love you." She whispered. "I love _you_ and I love _everything_ you show me."

He curled his index under her chin, kissing her eager lips. She let out a delighted exhale upon his lips, moaning contently, massaging his neck and shoulders. "Sakura-"

She took his breath away in another hungry kiss, while his palms cupped her cheeks, brushing away her tears. She was deeply moved, he knew and that was the reason why he brought her there to begin with.

She pulled apart deeply panting, looking straight into his eyes. His irises borrowed the dark blue light of the marine creatures, shining like diamonds. Her heart took a fast lap out of his chest at the sight of him.

He _smiled_ for her and it was astonishingly gorgeous. It was not one of his signature smirks, no, that was a pure manifest of unadulterated display of affection and it touched her soul with a divine flame.

He looked stunning and it was an understatement of his Godlike features. "Your smile...gorgeous! How can you be this...handsome?" She listed all the synonyms and idioms in her mind, but found none worth enough to give him credit.

His sharp features were serene and enveloped in an unusual light and his perfect set of pearl teeth gave him a noble aura. "I am nothing compared to you..._my _angel."

She pulled him into a tight hug, until she felt suffocated, looking at their entangled feet and the luminescent effect, until she couldn't withstand the cold wind grazing her bare skin, making her jaw clench. She wanted to live the moment forever.

"Let's go back." He placed a kiss at the top of her hear, rubbing her forearms.

She shook her head, rubbing her nose on his chest, in a tickling manner. "No!"

"You are freezing."

"I am fine." She heard him chuckle deep at her quivery voice.

He lifted her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style back to the beach, while she threw continuous glances over his shoulder at the rippling waves and bioluminescent animals. "Sasukeee...I don't want to leave."

Sasuke lowered them both on the sand, resting on their sides, she immediately nuzzling close to him, entangling their legs together, resting her head on his shoulder, stroking his damp hair. It was still feather like, rich and the ebony color only added to the mystery. "Then don't leave. Come with me."

* * *

"His mother set the date of our wedding. I am supposed to become his wife in March or April."

"I will _not_ allow it happen."

"We moved together yesterday. Or I should say...he got all my things moved to his house, without announcing me beforehand. My mother partaken into this."

"Sakura-"

"We don't sleep into the same room."

"It is the same thing. You are there with him and you know what he is capable of. You are not safe."

"He is not going to touch me again, I won't let him. I promise."

"Break up with him and be with me. Come live with me."

"I want to, I swear to God I do, but I don't want you or my mother to have problems. I will figure something out, there has to be a way out without much hurt and effort."

"What if it doesn't go as you wish? In four months, you will be _his._" He gritted his teeth. "And I will lose you...forever."

"No!" Dread escaladed along her spine. She tightened her embrace around his neck, kissing his jaw and cheek, tasting the cold drops of saline water on his skin.

"No, you are not going to lose me! I don't want to!"

"Then make a choice until is too late."

"You have to trust me, Sasuke, for I am going to find a way out. Have patience and wait for me."

"I am patient, Sakura. But it is you that _run out _of time."

"I know...but just for ten more minutes...hold me. And love me. I need this strength to return to that house. Please."

She closed her eyes, kissing his throat, feeling him run his palm along her back, down her ass, them coming in between them to caress her slim waist and lean stomach, descending to her thigh, in a soothing comforting manner.

She relaxed into his touch, enjoying every second she had left into his arms. He smelt like love, ocean and fire.

Sakura knew that she was drowning in salty waters.

"I love you." It was her message in a bottle.

* * *

**V.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

"Sakura. You came earlier. Why the rush?" The brunette receptionist and nurse was tiredly sipping her morning coffee, when she has been approached by an equally exhausted pink haired aspiring medic.

She gave her a genuine small smile and offered her the cup. Sakura adored coffee just as much, because it went well with the cigarettes.

"Hello, Shizune. No reason, I just feel eager to do my job and take a high grade."

"I see. A difficult week? How is your fiancé?"

"Kind of. I…have failed an important exam and I need something to keep me busy from getting depressed. Sai is...doing his job, I guess. He has an important upcoming exhibition and you know he likes to work hard."

"Well, he could have taken a break and do something sweet to uplift your blue mood. Come. I have something you will like."

"Sushi or ravioli?" Sakura teased, following Shizune towards the elevator.

"Hehe, no, unfortunately. But thank you for increasing my appetite. Today's menu doesn't look too promising. This was Dr. Orochimaru's idea. He told me to give you something more fitting for such a kind lady like you."

"You mean, for one that has hallucinations. He thinks I have mental problems."

"Don't exaggerate, he doesn't think you are crazy. He only said you were constantly coming here to help and you should do something more relaxing."

"It is the same thing, only it is more polite if you put it like that."

"Why all the negativism so suddenly? It is not like you to be so down. We are here."

"I have one of those...days. Where are we?" Sakura realized they were in the Oncology section, where usually, only residents had full access. She has only been there twice, for minor tasks. They were in front of a shut door, at the end of the hall.

Shizune handed here a blue file, with some papers that had blank spaces to complete. "Here. You will need these files to fill in for your practice." She opened the door without further notice, getting inside, with Sakura right behind her. "How are my favorite patients today? I brought someone to keep you company."

Shizune addressed to the children playing inside in a soft honey voice, her black eyes eying them lovingly. At least, that was how it looked. Sakura recognized the stare as being the closest to pity. Were they all patients, she wondered.

There were only ten smaller than normal hospital beds, with many computers and IVs attached and many kids, both girls and boys, all clad in pajamas, roaming around the room.

She came to stand beside Shizune, who caught their attention immediately, by pointing to the beautiful elegant visitor. "This...is Sakura. She is going to stay with you today. And you can even make her read stories, I am sure she has more patience than me. Say hello!"

"Hello, Sakura!" They all replied the best they could, with their bell like voices, melting Sakura's heart.

She absolutely adored children and she couldn't wait to have her own family. She secretly craved for a girl, to grow and educate like a princess. Her smile rivaled the morning sunshine emerging from the sea, in August.

"Hey everyone...nice to meet you all. My, you are all lovely!" She declared happily. "And cute, just like angels!" She confessed, crossing her arms into her lap, bending her knees to be on their level. They didn't look more than 10 years old.

"Will you read us a story, Sakura?" One boy holding a giant robot, with big puppy eyes approached her.

"We are having a tea party!" A girl happily announced from the other side of the hospital room, combing a doll's, who was akin to her twin sister, curly hair.

She felt someone coming to hold her hand and she cast her emerald enchanted eyes towards a probably four or five years old boy, with a purple knotted child beanie and a plush panda bear into his grip. "My Teddy Bear likes you."

"I love the hair, you are like fairies! Do you have wings?"

"They are absolutely adorable, Shizune." Sakura whispered to the equally joyful nurse, she nodding once in agreement. "Tell Dr. Orochimaru I said thanks."

"Yes, they are. They are all orphans." She whispered back, smiling down at the kids who seemed to be fascinated by Sakura.

"They all have severe types of cancer. No one comes to visit them. Me and the other nurses are busy and barely have time. Just spend some time with them, I know you like children and they like you too."

She felt heart tore into half. Sakura did her best to hold the pool inside her eyes back from flooding, the first moment she realized that they were all hairless and pale. "Oh...this is awful. Don't worry, I will look after them."

"Do that. Take your time and don't let them tire you too much. They are very ill but sometimes they can get very energetic."

"When you are friends with Naruto, my childhood friend, no one can be more agitated than him." She declared solemnly, making Shizune giggle. She knew the blonde as being Sakura's friend. He sometimes came to nag her or walk to University together. That would be an interesting internist to see.

"Haha, ok dear. Good luck. If you need something, I will be downstairs, smiling at people and doing my best not to fall asleep."

"Take it easy, Shizune. I will come and check on you later." As soon as Shizune left the room, the little wonders had Sakura's unfaltering attention.

"So? What do you have in mind?" She couldn't wait to play with them. Orochimaru has been wise to let her spend time with the kids, leisurely, at the same time, completing her classes.

"Read us a story!"

"Yes, please, we want to hear it!"

"No one comes to tell us stories."

"With beautiful princesses and brave knights!"

Taking a pretty tick colorful book, from one of the beds that was closer to her, Sakura took a seat on the white mattress, with a bunch of impatient kids surrounding her feet. She felt like a teacher with her class. "Ok." Emerald eyes did a quick scan over the table of contents, flipping the pages, until she came across her all time favorite tale. "Let's see. Do you like Cinderella?"

"Yeeees!" Was the general reaction. She has seen some comically brooding boys, who were probably looking forward to an action oriented plot, but maybe she should chose another one after Cinderella.

"So, Cinderella it is." Sakura decided, wetting her lips, starting to read. She did her best to put emotions into her way of describing, just to stir their interest more and captivate the audience...like her grandma used to do in the past. "Once upon a time, there lived a ..."

The children were all giggles, 'wows' and cheers, when there was a more meaningful key point of the story, but they couldn't have predicted what crossed Sakura's mind at the moment.

The more her eyes absorbed the meaningful words and the storyline unfolded in front of her eyes, the more she was reminded of _him_.

Rebel locks that rivaled a Friesian horse's rich mane in beauty and softness, big black olive orbs, framed by long eyelashes, marble unblemished complexion and a proud chiseled chest, even the Prince Charming was his perfect replica, in the story.

Unconsciously, her body reacted to the image of him. "Look! Sakura's cheeks turned red like Cinderella's!" One of the closest to her girl, with light green eyes, pointed a small dinger towards a blushing pink haired ashamed lady.

"Hehehe!" Soft giggles filled the depressing background, the pungent smell of anesthetic and chlorine forgotten for a moment. And Sakura found herself laughing along.

"Sakula, do you believe in plincesses and failies?" The cutest amber eyed girl Sakura has ever seen asked boldly. She couldn't help but take her much smaller hands into her own, brushing the tip of her nose on the girl's one, playfully, tickling her.

She supposed it was still all right for her to get cozy with them, since Shizune has not instructed her to wear masks or keep a safe distance. They were not in the ER.

"Well...I believe in things called love and friendship."

She told her truthfully, the kid nodding once, twirling one rosy longer lock cascading over Sakura's shoulder, around her fingers. Her exotic looks helped her win hearts and she was popular among the children for her innocent appearance.

"What about the dragons and kings?" One boy challenged, crossing his arms in front of his hest, with a serious look on his face. _'A politician'_ she inwardly smirked at him.

"Do you like them?"

"Yes! One day, I will be a brave knight and I will have a shiny armor and a sharp sword to protect my kingdom!"

"I think you are very cute and courageous. Just like a knight."

"You folgot the holse!" A much younger one argued with him, stomping his heel on the ground. Friends or rivals?

"I want to be a mermaid, like Ariel! And then I will comb my long hair all day and wear beautiful necklaces and sing!" Another girl who was slightly older than them, flailed her hands up in the air, doing a spin, dreamy.

"Do you like to sing?"

"Dr. Kabuto says I have a beautiful voice. And father Asuma lets me sing carols on Christmas at the chapel!"

"Wonderful, dear. I wish I could sing too, but I am tone deaf and my voice is like a donkey's." It was one embarrassing truth. One day, her two insane friends talked her into going to karaoke.

After many threatens with spreading childhood photos with her online, she went up the stage and performed Titanic's trademark song. It was so horrible that the bartender gave them three rounds of drinks for free and the manager returned the money they paid for the entrance. It was beyond humiliating.

"Will you come and see me perform this year?"

Darting her jade eyes on the file resting beside her, Sakura has been forced to say a white lie, because the kid has barely had a month to live at most. Leukemia. "O-Of course, honey. I will be there."

"Sakura, do you believe in fairytales?" A voice she hasn't heard until then caught Sakura's attention, towards the last of the beds, from the window. Her heartbeat intensified at the sight of an angelic golden haired girl, resting under the blankets, eying her serenely.

She _knew_ her, it was the girl from the cemetery! She couldn't believe her eyes, how was it possible for her to be there? She looked fine, happy, carefree- "I do." Sakura professionally covered the messy thoughts mixing into her brain, like a ravaging hurricane.

"And magic? Do you believe in magic?" The blonde girl pressed.

"Magic? I prefer to think of them as miracles."

"What about destiny? Do you believe I can change my destiny?" Sakura couldn't resist the urge to stand up and head towards the girl, taking a sit on the chair beside her bed, while the other kids were arguing over the next game they should play. The first thing that crossed the rosette's mind, was how stunning the girl was.

She, looked older, more mature, lucid over the reason while she was there and somehow...accepting her fate. But there was some unusual gleam of her ocean colored clear eyes that made her look...more special.

"I think everyone could do it with a lot of hardworking and perseverance."

"So...if I have faith and I never give up, will I be able to get off the bed and play along with the other children?"

Was she paralyzed? Or was she also a cancer suffering patient, like the others? Sakura couldn't have possibly checked her file, it would look rude. "I believe you can overcome any obstacle, if you want."

"Even _death_?"

"You are still too young to think about such things."

She briefly lowered her gaze onto her chest, looking very disappointed. Sakura felt like hugging her tight and never let go. Why did they have to suffer so much? What capital sin have they committed to be damned with such a cruel fate, Sakura rhetorically asked. "Doctor said that I don't have much to-"

"Miss Sakura, come and play with us. Let's make a big circle!" Her speech has been interrupted by a crowd that was sprinting towards her.

"Only if you don't make me sing."

"We will sing for you!"

"And you will listen to us!"

Without any further notice, they made a big circle in the middle of the room, holding hands, moving in slow motion, chanting the lyrics of what should have been a child's traditional song.

Only...it was not exactly the case. Sakura was not sure why, but the apparently harmless melody had a hidden message she deciphered without dwelling too much on it and it was about...the words were all about asking for forgiveness, diseases, mourns, white flowers and...plague?!

A cold shiver washed her all system, like a violent electrical discharge, that knocked the wind out of Sakura'a lungs. She has been hit by a wave of queasiness and she was amazed she didn't throw up right that instant. Instead, she attempted to stand up and go stop them, but the cerulean eyed girl was holding her hand, preventing her to leave her side.

The song...the more the circle spun, the more it sounded like...it was like a _prayer,_ realization hit her hard. A prayer the priest said to someone that was about to die, to help the soul find light and cross over.

She was panicking, her pulse has increased tenfold and her heart threatened to jump out of her ribcage. In a nutshell, she felt like hyperventilating and she has suddenly been shot by a rippling claustrophobic sensation.

"What, wait this is not-" She felt her vision fog and she attempted to remove her hand from the blonde girl's one, without success, as if the child knew she would not be able to stand.

Her head flew on her temple and she stumbled backwards, until the back of her knees hit the edge of the closest hospital bed and the last thing Sakura has been aware of before she lost consciousness, were the girl's desperate please.

"Tell him not to let me lose way again."

* * *

**VI.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

"Sakura? Are you awake? Talk to me."

Someone was calling her name, but her blurred vision prevented her from seeing the worried owner. Her head felt like a ticking bomb.

"Sakura, can you hear me?"

"...y-yes..."

"Are you...oh, thanks God!"

"Who-"

"You have scared me to death!" A foggy brunette spot...white complexion, equally jet eyes hovering down on her...

"S-Shizune...? Damn...my head hurts and I am dizzy!"

"Take it easy, you will be fine."

"Shizune...what happened?"

"This is what I would like to know as well. Don't move, I have put you on IV."

"Wh-" That would explain the strange stinging sensation on her arm and the local feeling of paralyzed area. Her vein was throbbing. She hated needles and shots in general.

"Vitamins. I came to check on you and I saw you lying limp on the bed. At first, you look like you were sleeping, then I checked on your forehead and you were sweating and your body was boiling."

"A sudden stroke?" The pinkette rested the back of her palm on her cooled forehead, blinking rapidly.

"Most likely exhaustion."

Slowly, but surely, her vision cleared, but the pulsating temples wouldn't cease away. She has been reminded of her last memory before she fainted and million ideas shot through her skull like puncturing drops drumming down the window. "The kids...where are they?"

"It is lunch time. They liked you a lot. You should come and play with them again if you have time."

"I loved them too." Sakura let her head loll on the white pillow, casually following the clear cool liquid of the IV flowing through the transparent tube. "her, especially."

Shizune, who was checking on the IV, taking down notes based on her observations, lifted a curious eyebrow at the pink haired aspiring doctor. "Her? Who?"

"-the blonde one, with azure eyes. The beautiful girl that is older. She is very special."

"Mary." Shizune explained. "She is an orphan. Her parents died in a car crash four years ago and she was the sole survivor. No other living relatives whatsoever. It has been two years ago since she has been first hospitalized."

"Also cancer? What type?"

"Brain tumor. Though it is in its final stage. Cancer has destroyed most of her glial cells and synapses. The oncologist gave her two or three more weeks, depending on her body response to medicine and cobalt therapy."

Shizune left a hand to rest on her hip, softening her gaze at the thought of a little innocent child as Mary having to suffer the harsh treatment and the after effects of the cobalt therapy. The still intact tresses decorating her scalp was a miracle among the oncologists.

Sakura felt her heart sink down in pity, like a part of her soul has been ripped off her person. Children were not allowed to suffer in her opinion. They had to have color in their cheeks and bright eyes, not an uncertain future. "Dear God..."

"This is as much as they can do for her. For the others as well."

Something in Shizune's declaration of acceptance in front of the imminent fate trigger Sakura's logic, who reacted in a blink. "B-But she looked...fine when I have seen her yesterday."

"...what do you mean you saw her?"

"At the cemetery. I visited my grandma and I saw her there, placing flowers on the graves, along with other children. She looked happy...lively...and her eyes were glowing of life force. She didn't look ill. Although, she smiled at me then just as sudden she turned around and run away."

"I am afraid this is not possible, Sakura, Mary hasn't left the hospital's yard since the last Christmas and she is in no condition to do that, especially unsupervised."

Sakura felt a cold shiver descend down her column, shaking her head once, emerald orbs reeling confusion. "Shizune, I swear I am not crazy, she was there!"

"You have probably mistaken her for someone else."

"No! I would have recognized her. You should have heard what she told me before everything went blank...it was-"

"She does it from time to time. She surprises us as well, albeit she is a sensible and talented kid. You should see her diary, it is full of short stories and poems. Some of them are really good. You should ask her to show them to you...someday. Especially the ones from her visions trips."

"Visions? What do you mean by that?"

"Well she has these dreams and moments when she speaks vaguely about things we can't understand, like she is ready to go and someone is expecting her, or she is afraid not to get lost. Sometimes she would even address to an invisible audience."

"You are kidding!" Nevertheless, the image of the child Mary, running carefree, with pure flowers in her hands, praying for the other tormented soul's blessing, was torn from the image of Eden Garden, in all its picturesque glory and definitely had an ethereal touch into it , that might have determined one who has witnessed her to reconsider the fine line between palpable and spiritual.

"It is no big deal. Orochimaru and the surgeon that deals with her case say that it is because of the tumor covering her hemispheres almost entirely. Her brain is not able to differentiate the dreams from reality, so it is just a repercussion of her illness."

"I see. That would explain a lot. Poor girl..."

"Well, that if you would not believe what the priest says."

"The priest?" Religion has always been a subject Sakura has never excelled.

"From the chapel. He spends more time with the kids. You know, telling stories about Jesus and God or giving them sweets."

"And? What does he say-?" Folkloric beliefs were either not among Sakura's convictions. She was a future medic, so scientific explanations were her area of expertise. Unconventional and supernatural were not her 'weapons'. "-about her...dreams?"

"That her soul entered the stage of purification and she is about to...you know...cross over. I am not a religious parson, but it is something along the lines of the stages of death and the levels of the conscience. Though, you don't have to be a psyche to realize she doesn't have much to live."

"...do you believe in-"

"This stuff? Who knows, it just creeps me out, so I try not to dwell on that too much. We are in a hospital. We _are _surrounded by death. I try to say among the livings, you know?"

"...I see...I don't want those kids to suffer. I would like to do something to help."

"Hey, don't worry, you are going to be a great surgeon like Tsunade and find a cure. Speaking of which, she left me this receipt to give you. Some vitamins, supplements and nutrients. There is nothing wrong to you, but you are over exhausting yourself. Try and rest more, eat properly and do not stress."

"Thank you. How long will I sit like this?" She was already regaining the blush on her pale cheeks and Sakura guessed it was due to the strong medicine. She should pay attention to the driving part, tough. Her reflexes were less accurate.

"An hour, at most. Then a nurse is going to come and remove the IV and you can go home and rest."

"I am afraid I cannot do this. I have a course to attend on the evening. It is important and I don't want to miss the explanations."

"Don't push it. You are still weak. That, if you don't want another episode like this to happen again."

"I will be fine."

"Good. Then I will take my leave. I have to go downstairs and smile at brooding people, until my boss comes and starts to talk about a transfer to the morgue. Spending all day beside Kabuto and his corpses? No thanks, it will ruin my chances to find a man."

Sakura winked knowingly at the young nurse. She has been giving the handsome brilliant legist a lot of attention lately, which passed unnoticed by Dr. Yakushi. Shizune should have been bolder. "Hehe, who knows where love will find you."

"True that. See you later."

"Say Dr. Senju I have said thanks."

An hour passed in a blur, considering the fact that Sakura' thoughts were all drifting to the blonde angelic girl and their strange encounter. Somehow, the acknowledge of her being in the verge of death made Sakura reconsider her vision of the unavoidable fate.

What was her vision upon the death, she wondered. Sakura was not a person close to the holly manifestations, she, only accepting the presence of the divinity as a supreme universal force, existing even before the beginning of time, but without philosophical or religious considerations.

Tough it bothered her the way the brunette middle aged nurse kept on throwing funny glances at her, when she came to remove the large needle from her vein. Even her goodbye seemed a little bit forced.

Heading downstairs towards her locker, Sakura realized that the woman has heard of her latest experiences and, jus like in Mary's case, she considered her crazy.

And maybe stress has affected her in more that one way, due to the moment when Sakura removed her white medical lab coat and attempted to twist the lock, she realized that she has mistaken the combination.

"What the-" She tried again, mentally repeating the password she used to her all lockers and internet passwords, without hearing the familiar 'click' of the metal door opening. "I can't believe it..." She tried once again, with another password, with the same failed result.

She started to panic, because in an hour she had to be at University. Quickly, Sakura checked for it on her phone, thinking that she might have written it down in case she forgot it, but she found no such note.

"Ah damn it..." She crossed her fingers through her messy hair, feeling lost all of sudden and extremely angry.

And after two more failures, during which she probed everything from bumping her fist on the locker deluding herself that action movies held some sort of hidden truth, she gave up and called for the janitor.

The elder man was fidgeting with the amount of keys he had, muttering about how the young generation should be more responsible.

"Age...you kids should stop daydreaming."

"I am very sorry, Mister. I don't know how it happened."

She had her eyes glued to the lock, trying in vain to understand what could have went wrong. "I am not that silly."

"Sure thing. Here. Pay more attention next time."

"I will."

She shook her head in disbelief at how much stupid she could get. A small smile crept upon her lips when she took away a small cartoon bag from the troublesome locker, closing it after she reset the password, heading towards the hospital's back yard.

There was a little friend which was always happy to see her whenever she came and she has brought it a delicious bone. Yeah, she somehow managed to slip it into her purse the day before. Better make the best of Sai's outrageous family dinner.

* * *

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The next moment, Sakura was in the back yard of the hospital, with a wide anticipating smile on her face, still feeling slightly dizzy, heading towards a cage, calling for her favorite pet's name.

"Micky? Here boy, I have brought you something good." She approached the red painted house miniature, seeing a wet nose emerging from the inside, sniffing.

She knew the once stray dog since it was a puppy, and he was very fond of her and the hospital personnel. Nurses and sometimes doctors would come and pet him when they had a break or went outside to smoke. The dog was friendly and playful.

"Oh, there you are!" Sakura told in her soft joyful characteristic manner, approaching him to pet his head.

But when she tried to do so, the dog started to trash out of his leash, bark at her, loudly, showing her his strong canines, fiercely rejecting her presence. Her green garnet eyes grew afraid. "Micky…what happened?"

Sakura attempted to slowly get close to the dog, again, but he tried to jump on her, the only think preventing him from tearing her apart, being the small leash keeping him in place, looking unleashed. Out of reflex, Sakura stumbled two steps back, almost tripping on the stairs. "Why-"

"He doesn't recognize you." A quivering low voice that made the tiny hair down her flexed spine erect, made Sakura's heart take a lap to the Moon and back. She spun around at the speed of light, with a shaky hand placed on her rising and falling chest, meeting the owner.

It was the beggar elder she has been one step away from sending to the other side. What was she doing there? "It is probably because he is cold or hungry. He knows my scent."

"But you smell different." The old woman spoke as cryptically and smooth as the first time.

Her pose was not servile and her back was too lean to be considered a tramp. She was scary and unusual, Sakura decided. And she made not attempt to approach her. She stood rooted in place, with her palms resting on the cane she had planted on the ground, eying her keenly.

"...I have changed my **perfume** recently." Sakura has offered the dog her opened palm, attempting to approach him once more, when the old woman's words have prevented her from petting the dog.

"Don't try to touch him. You are confusing him."

"B-But why? Is he afraid of me? Is he sick?"

"He can feel your touch...but he cannot see your _face_." Something about her eyes...they had an unsteady light that sent alarming messages to the emerald eyed lady's brain, warning her about an upcoming danger. It was a feeling she could not describe.

"Wha-"

"Someone died."

Sakura tilted her head to look over the beggar's shoulder, following the direction of the chapel's opened door.

Distinctive familiar noises, such as mourns, prayers and the church's bell filled the yard. "He reacts like this whenever there is a funeral. Like he is grieving." The dog looked alarmed and his barks have suddenly became uneven.

"He is not grieving, he is showing the right path...to the ones that lost it."

No, Sakura had no restraint to openly admit she found the elder senile, probably because of her poor state, but she was not an ordinary mental deranged person. Just like Mary. She didn't do the right connection at that time. "I-I...how come you are here as well, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It wants to be petted." She ignored Sakura's sharp question, trying another approach.

Sakura averted her eyes from the coffin people were carrying out of the chapel, to the suddenly growing docile animal. It looked serene and friendly, like nothing happened. "But...dead ones don't pet animals, because this is impossible. Once their hearts stop beating, their neural activity-"

"Not if their hands are cold."

She snorted once, dropping the rest of the food she has brought down in front of the dog, standing up. The elder was rambling. "This is absurd. No departed one has warm hands, once their blood..."

"That if...they are not trapped in _between_ the worlds."

"You are c-crazy."

"You still don't have a coin."

Almost like she has answered an inner call, Sakura searched for her wallet, trying to assure herself that she was dealing with an unfortunate human being, that society turned into a lunatic and threw her into loneliness. But her forest green eyes flew open. No cash, only credit cards. "How-"

"It is over." She pointed out to the funeral procession leaving the church.

A middle aged nurse emerged from the chapel, probably bring a relative or a family friend, folding her blue medical coat tightly around her petite lean frame, rubbing her hands together, probably to get warm.

When she passed the two unresponsive women, Sakura saw the elder repeating the same question to the almond haired nurse. The young lady searched into her pockets absentmindedly, pulling out two coins of a low value, taking her leave.

"Thank you, Miss."

Sakura took in the scene, skeptically, as the elder bowed her head once, content with how much she got, immediately tapping her cane twice on the ground.

The brown haired lady passed Sakura saluting her-she recognized her as a pediatric resident doctor-coughing once, entering the hospital.

A wet abrasive tongue was brushing the stunned pink haired girl's fingertips and she realized the dog was thanking her for the food, in his own way. She realized her hands were warm all of sudden...and the mysterious beggar elder was nowhere in sight.

"Damn that was freaking weird. That woman is like a walking horror scenario." Sakura quickly wasted no more minutes in there, realizing how late she was for her course. That teacher had no mercy and his attendance meant half of their grade.

* * *

Sakura would probably not going to find out that, during the night, the chestnut haired medic went into cardiac arrest.

At first hour in the morning, she has already been _dead_.

* * *

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"You tried to warn her." His eyes had nothing left from the usual mystery black sapphire, for they bleed crimson, like an imperial crepuscule, surging the velvet sky at dawn and his wolf intense glance turned blazing primal, as his self untied of its bindings.

The much older beggar paused her steps for a brief, prompting her frame into the cane, with her intertwined fingers upon the winding sculpted mahogany snake, with red ruby eyes, coming face to face to the owner of the hard steel voice.

He was prompting his imposing frame on his shiny metallic car, looking into her eyes, being gorgeous beyond words, but deadly before temptation and he knew no relevance of the word 'afraid'.

"I am merely doing my job. Like all of us."

His unfathomable pupils were flickering like Athenian torches of victory, but did not lose the seductive beauty of his elegant gestures and it was that superiority _they _all recognized and bowed in front of, as it was given to him by the Divinity. "Your duty is to make sure they don't come to me unprepared. Make sure you do not forget this…_Koharu_."

"It is you that do not follow your mission, Sasuke-_sama_. You grew attached." She showed him a set of rotten teeth, not getting intimidated.

She has seen too much and heard many unspoken terrors to give in to the lucidity of dread the man's in front of her lifted regal nose was expressing.

"Not her."

"This is not for you to decide. Destiny is the Governor if their fate. Then...they are at God's mercy. You know the price of trying to interfere."

An unruly wind was waltzing through his signature fluttering raven locks, bushing the corner of his pressed together lips.

There was not a single wrinkle or pulled facial muscle to betray his inner thoughts, and , a lavender aura mildly kissing his breathtaking features, made him look like he was, both smiling and not. "She comes to me willingly. I am giving her what she wants."

"Because you are showing her an illusion. You are _fooling _her with something she _cannot _have_._" She was aware of the game. Of the dream. IT always started the same, they both were well aware.

His deep voice was void of inflexions and it was as cold as the sharp blade of a skate grazing the ice. "She...is mine."

"Her soul lingers. She doubts her decisions."

"The last word...belongs to me."

"Unlike the others, you have been granted a higher position and you are _abusing _your powers, but you are challenging odds." She let her pinky point towards him, lifting an eyebrow. His black sapphire immeasurable gaze revealed nothing.

"Mind your own business. There is another one coming." Sasuke changed the topic vaguely, as soon as he caught the sight of two women seeking for his hand.

Koharu's stare remained undaunted, trying once more. They risked a lot. Both of them. The wind grew still. "Cherry blossoms only bloom in spring. Remember."

"So do white magnolias."

"You still have time to reconsider your impulsive decision."

"I do nothing on a whim" All the vivid tokens of life support faded from the godly body he kept unrevealed under the glamorous clothes he wore and long wool coat, in the same shade as his raven hair, and his immortal unmistakable coldness and lucidity grew tangible with every blink of his eyes.

Like a broken clock, whose only reminisce of passing time were the tiny spider webs in between the frozen gold swings, his energy radiated from him.

"This world starts to not recognize her face anymore...Sasuke…sama." She turned her hunch back on him, heading in the opposite direction. The wind carried her last words to the recipient.

"Good. Because I will remember her...for eternity."

"She is going to suffer...for eternity. And then...your heart will crumble, along with hers."

'_Even though you are trying to __rescue__ her'_

* * *

**VII.**

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* * *

"I am home. Sai?" Sakura threw her shoes somewhere in the hall, beat tired from her long courses, calling for her fiancé. She mentally prayed for him to not be home, so she could totally relax, but she got no answer.

Curiously, Sakura went upstairs in the attic where Sai was usually trapped in his creations, living inside his own fantasy where she was not welcomed.

"Are you here?" She cautiously approached the partly opened small door, hearing grunts and muffled moans. Sakura grew alert in an instant, tiptoeing towards the crept opened entrance and took a peek at whatever was going on inside, freezing in shock…for a moment.

Sai was indeed there, but the reason why he didn't answer her call, was because he was _not_ alone.

The nude model that was supposed to help him finish his portrait, was keeping him company and what a company she was.

The blue haired woman, a woman she hasn't seen before, was sitting on the large desk, completely naked, with her legs wide open, while her fiancé was keeping her tights tightly in place, thrusting inside her like an animal.

Quickly, but silently, Sakura shut the door inconspicuously, feeling a bloom of happiness at the thought that destiny was giving her another chance.

She smirked at the irony of it, heading downstairs to let Ino know about what she has just found out. She owned her a good gossip. Then Sasuke would have to find out as well.

Her fiancé thought he was very smart for fucking his supposed nude model in the attic, senseless, unaware of another presence in the house, while she was having sex with his future sponsor behind his back.

If Eve has been forbidden to ever cross the Eden's gate, maybe she had a salvation before she met a torturous fate, being chased away from God's realm and be a wandered without a destination for eternity, if she was to have been offered the chance to redemption through the universal much stronger force that binds everything together, in the form of _LOVE_.

It was easy foe Sakura to imagine a future with Sasuke, for it was as natural as wanting him, as well as it was obscure foe her to envision a future with Sai.

Her fiancé was a sudden occurrence, a perturbing factor in her normal daily routine, which life threw at her to test how great her resolve to find undying love and fight for it was.

Life was a funny thing, Sakura has decided, but she didn't care whether Sai was cheating on her or not. Truth to be told, it only played in her favor. She has just found a way out.

_/Why are we doing this…things we don't want to?"_

_"Because we are not ready to confront our feelings. Humans...find it difficult to accept their destiny."_

_"How will one know when he is ready to accept his fate?"_

_"How will I know when __my__ time will come?"_

_"You are going to be cold...alienated...tired...and...you wouldn't be able to control yourself."_

"_What if…this is how I __truly__ feel right now?"/_

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_**Author`s Note**__: For all my readers: thank you._

_Elevated Jewel__, you got it right, though we have already established you were insightful. _


	4. There is a mask for every grieving heart

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_'__**We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin'**__. – André Berthiaume_

_/We are dancing souls in this net of floating dreams and our story is sewed in the embroidery of infinity, as our love story keeps on searching for its happy ending. If our love song is written in the stars, does it mean we keep on being together one million year away as well? Can you love me from the beginning of time until now?_

_If my thorn heart has shouted for you from then, have you received my message and waited for me at the end of the alley? Hear the echo of my soul calling for your salvation, Sasuke and be that love which defies time to come and bring us together and join us for eternity, placing us among the star dust. If we are to linger in another existence, then I want you hold your hand and never break apart/_

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I.

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She would have never guessed that she would see the day when her friend would decide to trade the comfort of her spacious bright pink decorated princess like chamber for a five meters squared painted grey room, sharing her personal space with a stranger who would probably not be able to put up with living with a diva.

At first hour in the morning, Sakura has received a nagging call from her best friend and the blonde was lucky to be among the two people in the world who she wouldn't unleash her wrath upon at their guts to wake her up. The other one was Sasuke, of course.

Ino has moved into the campus.

First thing she did before pinching her forearm to make sure she was not dreaming, Sakura threw her head back, letting it hit the plush pillow and burst out in a crisis of laughter. Five minutes later, she inquired the reason which has driven her strong independent friend to do such a thing. **Independency**, she has told her.

Sure, the rosette could fraternize with the idea of being on her own feet and handle her own personal matter without anyone to shove his nose into her life, but their views and methods differed tremendously. Still, it was funny as Hell and she couldn't help but snort, while she was smoothly driving her sports car down the familiar alley of the University's modern dormitories -prison cells- populated by ogling students, filling the front yard and alleys.

Beside her on the passenger seat, she carefully placed a rich dark pink beautiful Pelargonium, a gift she was bringing to its new home. She knew all too well that Ino adored to be surrounded by flowers since her family owned s flowers shop; the blonde was the Goddess of nature. She was beautiful like a flower in bloom herself.

As soon as she checked on the number of the room -it was 10- once again, Sakura knocked twice softly, aware of the fact that her roommate might be sleeping. But no such thing. "Forehead, you have come!" Immediately, the beaming golden haired friend of hers has thrown the door open and pulled her into a bear hug that made her stumble.

She quickly welcomed her inside her new home and invited the rosy haired girl to have a seat on her bed. "I would have never imagined that I will see the Pig in her rebel years." Sakura boldly told her, while removing her leather jacket, folding it neatly placing it beside her while Ino squealed at the beautiful flower placing the flower pot on her small office desk, near her laptop.

They have been like sisters for far too long to restrain from being honest with each other. "Check it out." The baby blue eyed lady placed a hand down her slim hip, while posing like a model in front of her laughing pink haired friend, smirking at her with a contagious confidence. "This is my brand _new_ attitude. This diva...is on a whole new track." Sakura rolled her eyes at this, but Ino has always managed to lift her mood up.

"Uh-oh. And it has absolutely nothing to do with a certain handsome _engineer_ moving here. Or...he wants to be an independent young adult living on his own as well."

"I am totally over Shika, might as well inform you. I want to broaden up my horizons." She turned her bare back on her friend and went to look on the window, flashed a group of freshmen her winning smile. "And **new** possibilities."

"Possibilities?" Sakura shot a fine perfectly cut eyebrow up incredulously, while Ino shook her head once at her not confirming her suspicion. "Is this how you call _flirt_ in the world of fashion?"

"Nah-nah. I am merely opening up to new horizons."

"Meaning you have given up." The observant pinkette deadpanned. There she was witnessing her friend moving on and deciding to pursue a new path in her life not being afraid to wander on the winding way of a full of unexpected new occurrences alley and she secretly envied and admired her courage. "I am glad for you Ino. You deserve someone to love you back." The Yamanaka heiress had _a confidence that_ Sakura unfortunately lacked.

"Heh, I will take the expert's advice to heart." She smirked at her and Sakura smiled back innocently. She was no longer the blushing girl, hiding inside her shell, emerging as a timid bud, hiding behind Ino's back. Only Sasuke could make her feel shy like a schoolgirl.

"This is not...so bad. I expected a hurricane. I see you got yourself a neat roommate." Sakura observed as she let her curious forest green orbs absorb as many details of Ino's new lifestyle as she could. There was an additional smaller bed inside and she quickly realized that Ino had one roommate. There were rooms with for or even five available beds and the pinkette shuddered at the idea of sharing her intimacy with so many people.

"Yukata or whatever. She is a freshman and she talks too much. Like Naruto!" Ino loathed obnoxious people simply because _she_ had to be the main attraction. Another blabbermouth would lead to constant argues and if the other party had a temper able to clash with her own then the formula for disaster has been complete. As an outsider, Sakura was deeply amused. Clearly that other girl was a sweetheart and she was probably overwhelmed. Maybe she was hiding somewhere...

"Sounds like fun. Also design?"

"Music. She plays the flute. Damn annoying. It's not like you can play J. Lo or Maroon5 on flute now, can you?"

Sakura joined her flailing friend on the window taking in the green surroundings and the park. It was not something opulent, but the benches placed around the star shaped fountain and willow and chestnut trees were cresting a friendly environment. She understood her friend and why it was less likely for the girls to become friends. They were from different worlds.

As far as she was concerned, Sakura has also been a partying amused teenager, listened to popular hits too but since she has started to date the Uchiha magnate, she was introduced to his world of more… classical things. "Diva."

"Hardly. It's called being natural."

"Psychologists call it delusional, but whatever floats your boat Pig."

"You're jealous, admit it, Forehead!"

"Pig!"

"Forehead!"

Their conversation started to flow as the two girls have talked about everything that crossed their mind catching up with the latest events from their lives and Ino hasn't missed the chance to brief her friend about the latest news from school. She knew everything about anyone, being a resourceful digger of hot gossip.

And she more than loudly protested when Sakura announced her that it was time to call it a day and head back home- Sai's loathsome rat hole a.k.a house. She convinced her emerald eyed best friend to have a sleepover not taking a _no _for an answer, even having a pajama prepared for her surprised soon to be medic proclaimed sister.

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* * *

She guessed it wasn't the smart idea to choose plums juice before hitting the pillow, Sakura has decided, as she felt the painful familiar tension in her bladder. Foggy jadeite orbs crept half open and she had to blink several times to realize that...it was completely _dark_ around her and not a single timid ray of light slipped past the green window curtains. "Pig?" She gave her friend a playful bump on her left calf, testing if she was already in the land of dreams. "Are you awake?"

"Mmmm..." A prolonged unconscious moan and a ruffle of the bed sheet which covered her shoulders assured Sakura that Ino was sleeping soundly. As far as she was concerned, there was one bathroom at the end of the hall, on the second floor, which automatically meant that she had to start her journey through the building.

Ino has told her that it was not a five stars campus and they only had running warm water and electricity until 1:00 a.m. Most of the students couldn't afford to pay higher bills, hence their choice to share a room in campus.

"A flashlight…She let her hand roam through Ino's nightstand in search for something that produced light, since she has completely run out of phone battery, with no luck. She felt a smooth slick round object under her fingertips in one of the drawers and she rolled her eyes, taking it out. "A damn candle." She let out a humorless _heh_, at the irony of it: Ino was an incredible incurable romantic: she lived in the 19th century.

Nonetheless, since it has been her only viable option, Sakura rolled over, coming to the edge of the bed, slipping her bare feet into the fluffy pink slippers. Since Ino's definition of pajama was pretty much like her own, meaning a long tight crepe pure white night gown, with a deep V cut, embroidered roses and lace, which brushed past her ankles, she quickly helped herself into an olive black and crimson velvet robe, letting it open and...realized that her friend didn't have a single match or a lighter..

"You have to be kidding me..." She opened the door as gently as she could, biting her lower lip as the old rusty hinges produced an unpleasant squeal, like million sharp nails scratching a blackboard, seeing that Ino's roommate was still missing.

The long hall was completely thrown in a heavy blackout and the fact that it was deserted produced an eerie atmosphere which had Sakura's tiny hair on her forearms stand, but she wouldn't chicken out because of a false illusion of evil lurking from the shadows as a figment produced by human's brain.

Fear of darkness is only a result of our fear of unknown.

There was nothing to be scary in that area, apart from the pungent smell of dirty socks and mold hanging on the edges of the tall honey painted peeling walls. She was keeping her sense of direction with her right palm pressed on the wall, as she let the blindness swallow her small careful steps and she held the candle in her left one;

If someone was to see her then, she would have appeared as a chimera of a lonely phantom, haunting the corridors of the campus, unable to find solace in the next world. There were heavy steps tailing her shadow from behind her, descending the stairs at the same time and she briefly turned her head over her shoulder to take a peek at an old man, probably in his late sixty, clad entirely in a black suit, but she was not able to see his face. The dim moonlight coming from the windows was not strong enough to help her distinguish important subtle details, yet she felt no danger coming from him; moreover, seeing him there was as natural as the first cry of a newborn.

She continued her descending unfazed and unbothered. He was probably a teacher or a student's parent, she concluded, paying no mind to the insignificant detail. Only, she has briefly wondered whether she should ask him to _light up_ her candle, but she decided against it. Maybe he was not a smoker so he didn't have a lighter.

With much difficulty, Sakura has managed to find the single bathroom that half of the students were sharing -_pure torture_\- but she understood that she had no way to use the toilet without...light. "Why aren't we moles?" It was in that exact moment when Sakura perceived two crucial facts: the first one was that the temperature has unexplainably and significantly dropped from the third floor, where Ino's room was and her creamy smooth skin has filled with tingling goose bumps while she shivered. It felt like a veritable frosty December night, even if it was a pretty mild October.

Her toes were getting a pale shade of lavender as her toes were freezing, in the same manner as her hands and fingers felt like icicles. "Someone hasn't paid for their electricity bill..."

Turning on her heels, with her messy low ponytail whipping around following the motion of her petite slim frame, she flinched as her heart rate went up, throwing her adrenaline in a race with the speed of light. "Oh!" She came to realize that the stranger from earlier has been _following_ her, staying right behind her.

"Excuse me, Sir..." Sakura addressed him politely, while her sharp garnet green orbs were studying his gentle features. She could see him pretty well then and his warm kind features and the clear blue sky eyes were cast on her. "...do you have a lighter or a match?" She elevated her left hand, angling the long slim golden candle she was holding towards him. "I need it to lighten up my **candle**. Can you **help** me?"

He remained silent, while his intense gaze fell on the object she was keeping leaned in his direction, than shifted his eyes back on her. He said nothing and he hasn't budged or made any gesture. "M-Mister...?" Her once confident tone started to lose resonance, while her spine has been shot with a cold electrical discharge sending alerting signals down her body and she shivered.

It was then when she held his gaze one more moment something happened. Suddenly she wasn't comfortable with his presence around her and dread has veiled her shoulders, enveloping her mind, sending her heart into a cardiac arrest. Her pulse accelerated and she slowly took two invisible steps back.

He made no attempt to stop her, approach her or...offer her what she wanted: light. Panic, anxiety and fear was rising in her throat in the form of a big painful lump, which prevented her to breathe normally. Her lungs were burning, the rises of her chest mirrored the speed of her electrified nerves, making her feel paralyzed in dread.

Her mind went instantly alert, there were loud low alarming bells ringing into her eardrums, making her go deaf, she was alone with that man, with one around to help if necessary and she didn't know why, but she realized in astonishment that she actually **knew** him!

Then she freaked out. "N-No! I-I-Impossible!" And stormed down the hall, in the direction of the stairs, not once turning back to see if he followed her. Not actually having any control over what she was doing, not expecting her next body reaction, Sakura gripped the knob of the door that connected the stairs to the hall and threw it open, bumping it into his face without a care and sprinted like a gazelle chased by a puma, throwing the door into his face, covering him with it.

Her spine was covered in rolling down cold shivers, her mind was petrified with puzzlement and distress and her feet were flying over the stairs. She gripped the lousy folds of her night gown to prevent herself from tripling on the soft material and stumble, while she made her way back to Ino's room.

Not caring about who she might wake up, she bolted inside, closing the door behind with an audible low thud and jumped into the bed, hiding under the covers, cuddling with her dizzy blonde friend. "Huh? Sakura?" Ino yawned, rubbing her tired baby blue eyes, looking down at her pink haired friend in confusion.

"Forehead, what's up?" Sakura threw her limbs around her shoulders, hugging her tightly and she was cold as ice, which was abnormal since the blonde Yamanaka was hot and sweating. She stretched her right hand above her head and fumbled with her phone, watching at the time. "What the freaking Hell, Sakura, it's 2:45 a.m! Do you know the meaning of beauty sleep?! This skin of mine needs at least eight hours of good slee-"

She stopped faking her annoyance when she took in the way her friend was trembling like she has seen a phantom. Has she been outside and Ino hasn't noticed? "Hey _hey_ honey..." She folded her hands around Sakura's stiffened shoulders, getting her face closer to her to see the palpable dismay dancing in her widened viridian irises. "...are you all right? What's the matter? Are you sick?"

"I-Ino...I..." She stuttered trying to reason that what has just happened was just a cruel coincidence with no importance even if she was certain that is has been as real as her apprehension and the erratic pulse beating into her limp body. She felt dried of energy and she needed someone to assure her that she hasn't lost her ration. "...I t-think I h-have seen my..._grandpa_!"

"What?! B-But Forehead, your...he is-"

"**Dead**! I know b-but...he was there! He has followed me downstairs and-"

"Wait, have you been outside? Why?" What was her emerald eyed friend talking about? Ino knew where her confusion was coming from: it has _not_ been a dream. Sakura said she sneaked outside the room which meant her weird creepy experience has been real.

Encountering a stranger in the building? Possibly. It being the ghost of her deceased relative haunting the halls if the University campus? Less likely. Considering the darkness around and her vivid troubled imagination, Sakura has probably imagined it and has overlapped the face of a dear one with a stranger who seemed similar.

Poor girl had so many problems. It was probably a result of constant stress. "Why were you outside?"

"The bathroom...I needed to use the bathroom and...we met on the first floor." Sakura's voice turned into a dainty dreamy whisper and Ino had to sharpen her hearing to hear her. The girl looked like she was trying to find a logical explanation herself. It was crystal clear that she was reeling into disorientation. "I think he has followed me all along, but I don't know how he suddenly appeared behind me. I paid him no mind before making it to the first floor."

"You mean that you were _not_ scared of him?" Something happened along the way the wise Yamanaka deduced; Sakura would have turned away and run from the very first time if she would have sensed danger approaching her which she clearly didn't.

"No...at least not until I asked him to...light up my candle." Saying it out loud sounded even weirder and crazy when she actually analyzed what she has done.

"What candle?" Out of her own accord, Ino's skin dilled with cold shivers while listening to Sakura's odd experience. Her friend was level headed and rational; it was not like Sakura to make up ghost fire camp stories to unnecessary alert her. And that started to scare the baby blue eyed woman too.

"I don't have any battery left to use the flashlight of my phone and since you don't have any flashlight in here, I took a candle from your drawer. I think I dropped it on the hall when I panicked and run away. Sorry."

"I don't remember having any candle in here. Maybe it was Yukata's. Freak girl."

"Smart girl, if you were to ask me. You have no electricity until morning." It was her last time of spending the night, Sakura made a silent oath. That was ridiculous.

"I don't know what to say, Sakura. Maybe you have imagined everything."

"How can I have imagined it if I wasn't asleep? I swear it was real! Like I am talking to you right now!"

"...fuck." What could she have told her? Sakura was certain she had a real encounter with a dead man, while she started to question the impact of distress over her judgment. Was Sakura losing her mind? No, she wasn't, she didn't have the signs of craziness. Then why was she..."Let's go back to sleep. We can discuss it tomorrow."

"B-But he-"

"Shh!" She tightened her embrace, while Sakura hasn`t protested both closing their eyes trying to fall back to sleep. "Rest. You need it."

**/Sleep and**

**Never**

**Wake**

**Up**

**You have slipped**

**Through my hands**

**But**

**I**

**Will wait**

**For you to come...**

**Sweet Eternity/**

**.**

**.**

**.**

* * *

"I was feeling up the wall all the times, while I descended the stairs..." She mirrored the steps she took, while her skeptical best friend followed her closely. The morning halls started to fill with tired students, who were dragging their partying bodies down the cafeteria, passing them by. "...and he has been following me. I turned around once to assess him, but I couldn't see his face clearly."

Sakura went on with her story and the vivid beaming of her eyes and all the details she was able to convey into reality took Ino by surprise. So maybe she has met someone late night all right. She still refused to think he was a...she shook her head once, falling into steps with Sakura, reaching to the first floor. "Here!"

She pointes her finger towards the end of the long crowded corridor, grabbing Ino's hand dragging her to the bathroom. They stopped in front of the said door and the emerald eyed woman dropped her body down, lifting the object she has abandoned few hours ago, shoving it under Ino's nose. "The candle! No one took it!"

Said blonde shot her hands in front of her like attempting to create a shield between her and the strange candle. "Ok ok I got it, you haven't lost it. Good, cos I don't wanna explain it to that geek." She meant Yukata. Ino didn't want to befriend a simple girl, coming from the middle society, playing the flute, collecting candles. "So, what next?"

"I realized that I won't be able to...you know...use the toilet without light and I turned around to head back and ask the security dude for a lighter, but I came face to face to **him**. Imagine it he followed me and I was dumb enough to ask him to lighten up this candle for me because I couldn't see."

Ino couldn't help but snort muttering a short sorry when Sakura shot her a fierce glance. She couldn't help it. The situation itself was funny as hell, if she was to ignore all the haunting bullshit. "And what did he tell you? Did he help or.." She wanted to say _thought you are a nut woman_ but decided against it.

Her friend was not having a mental disorder and Ino didn't want to offend her. She was always supporting her, just like then. Heck, her childhood friend has disclosed her secret affair with _Sasuke Uchiha_ to her! Sure enough she was entrusting her with another important life experience and the beautiful blonde won't be toying with her feelings.

"No. He just stood there **watching** me. Then when he hasn't answered, I panicked. I opened this door..." She put her hand on the silvery knob of the same door, which was opened since may people have been using the stairs -_she furrowed her eyebrows at the way it was stuck in the same position she has left her the night before but brushed the nagging dark thoughts away_\- telling Ino the entire story the best she has remembered it.

"...and opened it. I think I have hit him in the face, like this." Sakura waited for a group of giggling and gossiping girls to pass them and attempted to shut the door and replay the scene, but the moment she dragged it towards her, instead of seeing the peeling wall...

**She came face to face to the same old man**! He was still **there**, in the same frozen position, unresponsive and having his gaze set on her! "Aaaahhhh!" A piercing scream coming from the unbelieving rosette stopped the other inhabitants of the building who whipped their heads towards her alert that she might have been hurt in some way, but she left them gasping at her back when she dashed outside the building.

In her haze she failed to notice an equally screaming Ino who followed her steps, with a banshee scream of her own. "Auch!" In her rush, she bumped her nose into something warm and solid and the impact would have sent her flying backwards and landing on her butt, but a pair of strong toned arms have steadied her, as a pair of calloused palms prompted on her shoulders.

"Sakura?" She fisted her trembling hands down the cotton bright orange leather jacket and her emerald orbs shot up to crush with confused aquamarine blue ones. "Naruto?" The other best friend of hers has planned on entering the same building she was trying to escape from. Ino came to a halt, planting her high heel down the concrete alley, avoiding the crush into Sakura and Naruto, like pieces of domino.

It would have been beyond ridiculous. "What are you doing here?" She addressed to a frowning blonde, who took notice of the blonde for the first time. Still keeping a hold of Sakura's left shoulder -_somehow he didn't trust to let go of her_\- she slipped his hand into the large pocket of his baggy Jeans and revealed a rainbow colored fridge magnet, saying welcome.

"I came to visit your new home so...congrats?" He flashed her his beaming goofy grin.

The splash he heard was a result of Ino slapping her forehead.

"Idiot..."

.

.

.

Sakura had no idea if Ino has shouted in unison because she has seen the man supposed to be her deceased grandfather or she was taken by surprise and it was on pure reflex, because they have never spoken about that incident.

Never.

* * *

.

.

.

**II.**

.

.

* * *

The only thing that Sasuke would not expect to happen was for a young tall man with peculiar aureate rebel spikes and deep sky-blue eyes to enter his large office, at the first hour of the morning, slipping nonchalantly past his secretary, who tried to stop him from welcoming himself into the CEO's office room, uninvited.

And the first words that came out of his stern pressed lips almost had Sasuke crack his pen in half. "You are hurting her. _We_ can all see it. The wise Koharu has told you, hasn't she?" No other greeting or apology for interrupting him.

Sasuke shot his charcoal bottomless eyes towards the said man and pierced him with a stare that could petrify melting steamy lava in a blink of an eye. His handsome face, however, was void of any emotion, keeping his features impassive with an impressive stoic attitude. "You are in no position to lecture me. _Your_ job is to _follow_ the lead. Stick to your own damn business." He answered flatly, no emotion was given away by his smooth rich low voice.

Naruto on the other hand, looked dead serious. He had those moments when his goofy carefree grin turned into a stern scowl. He let his feet carry him towards the unmoving raven haired Uchiha until he was right in front of him, with the large mahogany desk separating them. "Sasuke..." He tried once more keeping his voice low and humorless, like he meant business. "...you are not following the _orders_. _You_ are the one who broke the oath."

"I _make_ rules...as I deem fit. I am not obliged to justify myself to anyone...especially in front of..._you_."

Neither broke the eye contact and neither moved. "_She _needs to face her own destiny. You just try to avoid the inevitable, but in the end, you will lose her. She doesn't want you. You are just fooling her into showing her the least worst. She _hasn't_ chosen you and her soul rots each passing second. If she stays with you, then-"

At that Sasuke rose from his seat slowly prompting his palms down the desk, as his impressive muscular frame grew before Naruto's azure eyes, until they were at the same level. Would it have been another person in Naruto's place, he or she would have been running for their life at how scary looking was the Uchiha's attitude as his voice went impossibly low, practically hissing like a dragon snake and even his tone changed for a robotic devilish one. "Maybe I haven't made myself understood." Keen as he was, he caught a flicker of exquisite deep black violet at the corner of his eye and his flickering stare shifted from Naruto towards the streets visibly from his entire made of glass panoramic office. "How about I cast my attention to _something_ more important..." A wicked threatening smirk took the place of his firm thin lips while the golden haired Uzumaki let his cerulean orbs follow Sasuke's onyx eyes he too taking in the thing he as looking at. "…shall _I_?" The Uchiha returned his glare towards Naruto's profile studying his reaction.

Said boy's slightly sun kissed tanned face drained of color as he grew white as a ghost. His heart stopped beating and his eyes widened in consternation. "...no! You wouldn't-"

"Does she know she has _cancer_?" Usually Sasuke wouldn't take much pleasure into handling the real tasks he had been given but something in the way Naruto's eternal overconfident attitude pressed his buttons further than it should have had. And that alone annoyed him till no end. "I wonder how much _time _left does she have..." He let his words linger while his onyx eyes trailed on Hinata, who was accompanied by another female with chestnut hair, kept in two buns atop her head, exiting a gelateria, laughing and crossing the street. "…and I wonder what exactly _I_ can do..." His smirk grew, while Naruto's broad shoulders stiffened and his nostrils puffed his erratic breaths. "...to _lessen_ her suffering..." The Uchiha spoke casually like he was discussing weather and his gaze travelled to the blonde idiot spunky Uzumaki. "...Naruto?"

"She is..."Said man started weary while his confident tone changed for a sad whisper. Sasuke was silent and he let him finish. He knew he was being honest."…my own source of **light**."

"This is the most you could have ever done...**beg**. Plead for mercy."

"_Teme_-"

"Pathetic." The Uchiha shut his onyx eyes tight as his jaw clenched. He sat back down, sinking into his big leather chair, and waved the Uzumaki out with a gesture of his hand, silently sending him off his office room. "Don't call me..." But the way he growled the words into his face made Naruto gulp once _to alleviate the lump in his throat. "…like that."_

_/A simple name/_

_/identity/_

_/existence/_

_/a reality I have negated/_

_/I have been denied to exist in your world/_

"Go. I don't want to deal with you, Naruto."

Said person shook his head while his rebel locks that rivaled the sun, fell on his temples fluttering as he spoke, sadness and sorrow present in his voice. "I know that what has been taken from you cannot be handed _back_ to you..." He followed how Sasuke's body tensed into the dark suit he wore and he knew he was bringing up a very sensitive topic but even so Naruto didn't back up.

"_Naruto_-" The Uchiha started low and menacing but the blonde has cut him off. He was the only one who was not afraid to speak his mind in front of him

"...not even _you_ have the power to bring them back again..." At that it was Naruto's turn to watch as Sasuke's fine eyebrows furrowed as he scowled. "...but I will always watch your back, like we used to..." Naruto turned around, showing an unresponsive Sasuke his back.

"...as your best friend." At that Sasuke's impassive charcoal eyes bled red in fury. And he felt the need to do something that he hasn't done in a long time and almost grew to be an alien gesture.

_Scream._

Best friend...**his** best friend.

Uzumaki Naruto has once been his best friend and the blonde claimed that he has never give up on him.

It was in his nature to never give up. Painful memories that he pushed at the back of his mind invaded Sasuke's pressed eyes, playing like a broken musical box, in an abandoned home and they have all been triggered by that blonde _dobe._

Sakura has always kept her affair a secret from Naruto even though he was a very dear friend, afraid of his morality and the judgment that would come with the confession.

But Naruto knew everything about Sasuke. ** .thing**. And that was why he was so afraid for his emerald friend. She was safe with him and that was a fact, Naruto pondered while he exited the Uchiha's skyscraper, hands slipped down his pockets, taking the same way as Hinata.

But the rosette was not supposed to be with Sasuke and his friend knew but chose not to care. He would pay the price for his actions later on.

A sad smile shined on his lips when the lavender eyed Hyuga's charming giggle reached his cerulean eyes. She was laughing at something that her friend was showing her on the phone, leaning on her shoulder, both enjoying a _dark chocolate_.

Just like Sasuke...he too would...

His heart pounded into his chest like a gong and he clenched his jaw fisting his hand into his shirt when he saw the multitude of fallen luscious dark lavender locks, glued to her clothes.

He could only pray that Sasuke hasn't decided to pour his accumulated hatred to that innocent girl, just to teach him a lesson, it being to stay _away_ of his business.

_'Hinata'_

He pressed his nails down his palm, throwing a glance to the last floor of the glass see through tall building, narrowing his then creeping blazing equally red orbs, looking straight towards Sasuke's office. He knew that the Uchiha was watching him too.

And he muttered the words to him _'I am going to fight for her.'_

He smirked. Sasuke actually smirked while taking in the scene before him. The fire in Naruto's eyes which brought his determination to the light, scintillating on all his face.

_He decided to fight for her._

For a very special _her_. And that was why Sasuke decided not to interfere and let Naruto sell his _soul_ in exchange for happiness and _save _the pale eyed beautiful Hyuga heiress. There was a reason why Sasuke has turned his back on Naruto: the blonde was too much like him, starting with his love for that woman. He knew his pain, he shared his loneliness, he read his soul and was not afraid to provoke him.

_Annoying idiot._

His chair slowly spun as he heard his secretary knocking on his door asking the permission to come in and welcome a business partner that he was expecting

_'Tch' One day..._

_Dobe, I will-_

"Excuse me, Mr. Uchiha...Mr. Yakushi is here."

"Send him -_to Hell_\- in."

* * *

.

.

.

III.

.

.

* * *

"There are so many people! It is really easy to get lost. Let`s stay close to one another. I don't think we have signal." Two hours..._two freaking_ hours have passed, during which she has been dragged to every each flashing dorm of entertainment or food possible and Sakura was _not_ having fun.

Her golden haired ecstatic friend has forced her into a tight, long chiffon and velvet emerald and golden gown, with a hint of a medieval touch, revealing an elegant rounded cleavage, with airy folds and a corset cupping her slim siren like waist, cascading down her body. Her hair was kept in a bun with a few rebel locks framing her oval face and long brown rimmeled eyelashes were making the jade into her irises stand out more, emphasizing the unique golden small dots.

Ino, on the other hand, was stealing the show in a flashy gown that reached her ankles, made entirely of purple embroidered lace, that she has sewed by herself, with her own skilled hands that were keeping on dragging her along every vendor she laid her baby blue eyes upon and a pair of impossibly high matching stilettoes, a grin plastered all over her beautiful face.

They were not alone though. Behind them was a very interesting couple whose subtle timid gestures were coming pretty close to the word cute. Naruto has finally proved that he was not a chicken but an actual man and invited _Hyuga Hinata _out and she has actually accepted!

Which stunned everyone because the Uzumaki was a commoner even if he had the heart of gold and the brightest smile, she was still a rich heiress of a famous family, yet she has eagerly told him _yes..._

After she fainted in her doorsteps.

Even if the all too shy for her own good lilac eyed Hinata hasn't spoken _-stuttered_\- more than two words, including the greetings, it was obvious from the way she was blushing and hid her smile -_innocent and beautiful_\- behind her long rich eyelashes and cast her eyes down when he spoke to her that she liked Naruto and a lot.

All that time the two were oblivious of each other's feelings. One was admiring from afar, craving, longing, admitting, lusting and the other was silent, shy and less daring with words. But fate has brought them together and they actually had fun.

Naruto would never stop talking _-like his blonde female counterpart_\- and throwing corny jokes while she would blush and giggle like a teen with a crush, taking in everything he said.

And they were holding hands, never letting go.

"I don't mind getting lost when I have such a beautiful company. Right Hinata?" The cerulean eyed Uzumaki shot to the stammering Hyuga who threw a worried glance towards Sakura and Ino silently begging them with her big round eyes to help her say something appropriate or...just _talk_.

"Y-You think I am beautiful?" She barely managed a coherent sentence and her blush rivaled the sunset. Naruto was hypnotized by her grace, while ogling her starry eyed.

He nodded generically while Ino gave Sakura bump, grinning and smirking knowingly. Someone would get _laiiiiid_ that night, was what she muttered to a dumbfounded Sakura who disagreed. "The most beautiful!" Naruto breathed without thinking. His obnoxious voice turned the heads of the passersby. "From all the Universe!"

"Puh-lease!" Ino waved them her bright red manicured hand, in a dismissive way, acting like a total diva. Truth was, she had style. "You two get a room." Hell, she would personally make arrangements if needed. She was in for every chance she got to play Cupid and be the match-maker. And she was kinda sick to se Naruto rotting inside, ogling Hinata from afar and not actually addressing her more than one word, besides _sorry_ for accidentally -_not_\- bumping into you or _'Is this seat taken'_ in the cafeteria.

_Loser love._

"Ha! You are just jealous because I have an angel as a date and you don't!" The blonde Uzumaki protested scoffing at Ino who, understanding the silent message, shot him her best death glare.

Sakura and Hinata were both taking in their little argument. It was more like a friendly bickering since Naruto would have never laugh at his friends.

Or mock them.

He knew that she couldn't reach Shikamaru, nor has she seen him around the past days in the cafeteria or classes and she as quite edgy because she has invested time, money and wrecked nerves to be perfect and yet, she was alone.

A kick ass_ Colombina_ with half of a mask, encrusted in shimmering gemstones, glitter and Venetian motifs was the perfect match to her dress and Ino was still...alone.

Like Sakura in that moment. Seeing Ino's baby blue eyes washed by sadness, pain and disappointment was painful. But witnessing Naruto and Hinata acting like a couple, holding hands, sharing smiles and giggles, fugitive caresses and brushes, chocolate and pistachio ice cream, happiness and sweet nothings, was automatically reminding he of all the things she couldn't have with Sasuke.

Oh God, how much she wished he was there too. While Ino, Naruto and Hinata were busy having fun, talking about the live bands, the weird costumes of the people who passed them by, the traditional greasy food, the lights and choreographies of the street performers or the fancy boutiques with unique handmade jewelry and craft, her thoughts drifted miles apart.

She imagined herself with Sasuke. They would hold hands _-like every damn couple who slipped past her_\- them she would ask him to buy her something sweet to eat -_and he would pick dark sweet sweet oranges filled chocolate_\- and they would kiss under the medieval tower, made of cardboard and no one would care.

"Let's try the other side!" Ino's banshee shriek made Sakura snap out of her self-induced daydream...and go deaf.

"I spot a_ Ramen_ stall! Ooh, they have special menus for couples!" The other starstruck blonde idiot joined the chorus, Sakura mentally rolled her eyes. Her friends were killing her worse than her feet in those shoes.

"What are we waiting for then?! C'mon!" Ino was already shoving people out of her way. "Forehead, come down from Planet Zog and cooperate!"

Said lady wouldn't have it. "I-I...don't think this is such a great ide-" Her emerald eyes narrowed as she started to lose focus. The world around was spinning, her head was dizzy, her senses were clouded, her ration has left her and she felt like suffocating there.

There was too **crowded**; she let her head spin around. There were too many faces , too many people and they all seem to look at her and laugh.

A maniacal, mocking, devilish laughter, like bad omen and she panicked. It was exactly like the nightmare she had the night prior, only she could clearly see and feel the suffocating atmosphere.

It was not funny, but only made her agoraphobia grow and she wanted _out_. Unfortunately the main street where the main events happened and a huge scene was placed was overflowing with people.

And that idea of being stuck threw her heart into a cardiac arrest. In front of her, three pairs of worried eyes were set on her. Naruto was shouting something at her, but the pinkette wasn't hearing anything.

"-akura!"

"I need...I have to go! I am sorry!"

"Wha- wait Forehead, where are you going?"

_Anywhere!_ She bolted on the opposite direction where everyone was heading to, like she was fighting against the stream, gripping her pulsating temples.

She felt so bad that she wanted to cry and she was sure she would because her jade eyes started to moisten glistening with cold tears.

It was impossible to slip past all those people, she got numerous shoves and bumps from the others and there were hands touching her, either accidentally or not, she had no idea but Sakura knew she was going insane by any minute.

She just had to get back to a side boulevard where the streets were less crowded and take a fresh gulp of air. Or at least a deep breath. Even the oxygen seemed rarely in that area. How could all those people have _fun_?

It was cheap, kitschy, flashy and gross.

It was horrible and she hated it.

The whole festival touch was basically a horror carnival.

What should have been exquisite and interesting turned into a sight so painful to watch that Sakura wondered whether her retina hasn't been affected by it. Purple, bright green or pastel pink damask satin skirts, light ivory or red terracotta lace velvet fitted bodices, flared dresses floral patterned finished with gold and silver braids, lace festoons and enriched with bows appliqué, expensive handmade neckpieces and branded handbags and pale rose pastel lace gloves, were the main attractions decorating the ladies' bodies.

And of course the masks. Oh how _bad_ Sakura loathed those strange and scary animal shapes, decorated with dark blue, black, crimson red or deep purple appliques and furs, sewed in equally dark colors and even their expression and painted black, red or golden lips were smug, arrogant and devilish.

Just like in her_ nightmare_.

* * *

Her feet were carrying her away off the overcrowded street and she seemed to fly, while gripping the ethereal folds of the dress she wore, making it look like a butterfly fluttering its velvet wings, floating over the horizon.

She kept on bumping and elbowing the laughing partying people who came her way and she muttered weak apologies while heading towards an unknown direction. She didn't care where she was running to, but it had to be far far far away. Until her chest collided into something warm and hard rock chiseled, making her eyes snap shot out of reflex. She stopped. "Sakura." While her panicked clouded mind hasn't fully registered who the owner of the smooth tone was she tried to jerk away of the grip someone had on her forearm. "Relax. It is _me_."

Then she shot her head up and her trembling has miraculously vanished in thin air. "Sasuke?" It took Sakura a moment trapped inside a pendulum to dive into his arms and hug him tightly. "Oh God, you are here." She couldn't believe how lucky she was to encounter the man she loved there, even having the destiny to work for her in that moment and bring the only man able to bring her security and comfort into her arms, finding him into that sea of souls. The chances were zero, yet they still found each other. "How did you find me?"

She pulled back, but only a bit so as to look into his eyes, his incredibly sexy deep black sapphire smoldering orbs she adored, while he was holding her shoulders tenderly, his tone delicious as dark cherries syrup and his face serene. "What happened to you?"

"I...they...this place...suffocating...they all laugh at me...I feel so small...?" She would have laughed at the way she breathed an incoherent answer which made no sense, but she was too agoraphobic to think straight.

She wouldn't blame the Uchiha for being taken aback. He arched a perfect fine eyebrow at her. "Who are _they_?" He figured she wouldn't be talking about the people around. They were at a festival so naturally everyone would have a good time. Sakura couldn't have felt disturbed by such a thing, could she?

"Get me **out** of here. I don't like this festival! Please, can we go somewhere **else**?" She pleaded with both her viridian vivid eyes and her trembling -_delicious, painted strawberries rich_\- lips and he nodded once.

"I know a place you will like. Come. My car is nearby."

"Don't let go of my hand." She had to shout for him to hear because of all the noises the performers and pompous flashy huge floats were cresting; more like unnecessary clamor if she was to be honest. Sakura was naturally a very sociable person and she liked the company of people but that was not an atmosphere she enjoyed. From fast food sold every step she went, greasy grinning mouths, lascivious people trying to feel each other up with waltzing over the streets, merchants advertising the cheapest and more useless things one could have thrown his money on, to boring carousels and theatres or live medieval performances, the festival had it all in one place and it made no sense.

In a nutshell, she hated it.

Inwardly...she felt lonely among the cheesy couples who were giving her diabetics with the sugary lines and affectionate display overdose.

Well, that didn't represent a problem anymore since-

"You know I will _never_ leave you alone." Sasuke tightened his hold of her hand, while he maneuvered them both through the amount of the grinding bodies, **leading** her towards an **exit**. She couldn't find her way out but she exhaled in relief; she was **safe** with the Uchiha beside her.

He never lost his way.

_He even found it to my heart._

"Here." He briefly turned towards her exposing his handsome profile to her enchanted emerald orbs, his gaze soft. "Let's cross that **bridge**. Everyone heads to the main street. It is less crowded there."

"You lead, I will follow." Like she cared about where he was taking her. Probably Paradise if she were to be honest. And suddenly, Sakura grew hungry for his touch and taste.

_Like always._

They got behind an ice cream shop which was less populated, except for a few couples were randomly passing by, some salivating over the delicious looking stracciatella, mango and chocolate assortments, while some were asking for the biggest cups with extra topping. "It feels cooler in here." Sakura cut the comfortable silence between them, while she cuddled into Sasuke's warm embrace. "The air is saltier." His arms were crossed around her waist, resting on her tummy, while she pressed her back to his muscled chest.

"Can you tell? We are close to the shore." He murmured down her ear while placing a smooch on her pulse. She sighed contently relaxing under his touch. He looked so damn _hot_ in his silk navy office suit and black long leather coat; and his intoxicating strong smell of cologne and cedar and musk fresh fabric softener was lulling her to dream.

"Really?" She gave him a seductive knowing smile, while checking him up from head to toes. He was indeed breathtakingly handsome. And he was hers! "And here I was thinking about how_ spicy_ it really is." Oh, the looks she got from the passing by women was pure amusement.

Sakura was usually a modest person but she was a human and had her pride. First, they would set their eyes on the male who was holding her in his arms. Then their fugitive looks would turn into open stares when they took in his looks. Then they would fawn and...realize that he was not available. And their faces would hit the floor, along with their jaws

_Imbeciles._

His eyes glinted mischievously and ever so smooth, he flipped their positions without caring who might see -_or recognize_\- him and backed her up against a broken wall, in a dark corner where only the dim blue light of the moon barely reached, crashing his mouth on hers. Sakura's knees started to shake while her insides were melting like chocolate, at his kiss.

His lips were peaches heavenly but he pulled apart much too quickly. "...it can get even _hotter_ than this." He whispered darkly upon her parted lips allowing her to feel his cool fresh mint fanning upon her face.

"Burn me, Sasuke." She dropped her voice to a soft tune mirroring his own. She somehow felt like it came as romantic, wince they were together, joining a holiday, enjoying some time together, enjoying their intimacy. Like all the romantic couples on a date.

They were_ together_. It didn`t matter if no one knew because they alone were enough.

"No." He brought his appetizing velvet lips back on her, kissing her so passionately that it took her breath away, then he went for her pulse, as she arched her neck, resting her head on the cool wall she was pressing with her shoulder blades. She shivered when she felt a long fine palm sneak under her dress, massaging her thigh. "I will **lift you up**...Sakura."

Oh God, the way he let those words -_dark, dark, dark and sinful_\- drop from his mouth at the same maddening way he rolled her name on his tongue , send pleasurable tingles down her spin."Mmmm...Sasukehh..." She mewled, while she caught the sight of a couple passing them by, paying them no mind, holding hands, sharing an ice cream and she suddenly envied them. If she were to be honest -it was difficult to be anything but damn turned on in that moment with Sasuke feeling her up, pressing his rock hard mouthwatering body on hers- s_he was sick of hiding her affair_. "S-Sasuke, wait/"

"Is there something the matter?" He stopped pampering her jaw line with chaste kisses, but his mouth still lingered close to her cheek. He felt the sadness in every fiver, he always read her like a papyrus scroll and he read her turmoil then. He knew what he was looking at and he also knew what she wanted.

And that alone he _could_ give her. She just had to ask for it.

_Like always._

"Let's walk." She hummed so suave and her tone was pleading and that Sasuke couldn't understand. He wanted her to be bolder and more self-confident especially around her. After all he wasn't asking for the moon on the sky, but something so easy to give.

"I thought this place was too crowded."

"Yes but..." Her eyes got sad, thinking that she bored him with her puerile cravings. But there were moments when Sakura simply couldn't bear to see loving people flashing their love before everyone's eyes and she wanted that took. Most of the time she didn't need anything else because Sasuke was enough; usually was the key word because she had those times when she wished to be with him without restrictions."...I want what they have. How much time do I have to **hide behind a mask**? This circus breaks my heart and messes with my brain."

He sighed, caressing her shoulder while his onyx orbs flickered over the cheesy couples who kept on flooding the boulevards and he knew what Sakura meant. Then he returned his eyes on her staring at her with an emotion she couldn't decipher. "Sakura/"

"Please..." She took his unoccupied hand in between hers like she was sending a prayer to God confessing to a priest and he immediately linked fingers with her. "They won't mind us..." Her walls started to break down. "...is it far? The place you wanted to take me to. Leave the car and let us be..." She trailed the last words and bit her lower lip looking him deeply into his eyes.

"..._Lovers_." He voiced out her unspoken last words, his tone unobtrusive. He was always so tranquil around her and his gestures calculating. Just like his eyes.

She nodded and got all shy around him, eying her from behind her long rimmeled eyelashes, getting coy. Something like Hinata Hyuga would act, the woman who stole Naruto's heart and time to ogle other ladies. He simply leaned forward, leisurely and gave her a tender peck on her lips. "I never play..._games_."

With that, he spun on his heel, taking her with him, holding her hand, walking at a lazy casual pace always keeping in mind that she wore heels but more than that, he wanted to feel everything and live the moment at its fullest.

And judging from the way she was giggling while falling into steps with him, she was happy. His warm palm pressed on her own, that simple gesture, was making her heart buzz like a bumble bee, skipping a beat. And she fructified the chance she got from the less crowded place, bathed in darkness which concealed the embracing heartbeats and love messages from the curious eyes and snuck her both hand under Sasuke's hard protruding bicep, intertwining her fingers around his bicep, while he flexed his arm to offer support, gluing her cheek on his lean bulking muscles, humming dreamy as the buildings got fewer and the ocean revealed in all its splendor.

She felt so good with him. Sweet walking under the starry night, among the animated streets filled with carefree lovers -like them- passing them by; their stolen chaste kisses that were making her giggle like a school girl, the same joyful vivacious ladybirds fluttering inside her heart when he snuck a hand around her shoulders, their intertwined fingers playing the strings of the happy inside her thumping chest; she told him everything, up to the juiciest detail of her friends` lives, while he was charming her with stories about lost ancient empires; he had a vast knowledge of the Roman and Greek people and his stories about mythological creatures and long gone powerful civilizations were lulling her into a world of fascination tempting her to imagine how incredibly amazing their ancestors were, moreover he was making her feel less alienated of her own roots; once Sakura knew she lived in a small sad circle of family –who oppressed and rejected her- and narrowed superficial friends and relatives.

She knew it all too well that, compared to her, Sasuke was on another level of education and refinement. Class and royalty were the emblem of his wealthy noble surname, yet he never shown any sign of arrogance and boredom toward her; he was always listening to whatever she had to say; his pieces of advice were rare precious gemstones and she treasured each of them since his help was immensurable.

Sasuke had a romantic dreamy poetic side which she was aware of and he knew exactly how to fascinate her with a fugitive verse of the greatest classics in universal literature; Shakespeare had a touch of flirtatious elegance on his _oh_-so seductive lips, when he leaned in to remind him -in a way that was turning her heart into honey and her knees into hot chocolate- how much he loved her, every minute, every second, every day;

Sakura let her cheek rub on his shoulder, allowing the spicy fire and ocean scent of his smooth silk clothes to tingle her nostrils; every leisure walk with him was like stepping on fluffy clouds towards the golden Gates of Paradise. His all too wonderful attitude was not a cheap charade to win her heart; he was completely honest with her and his feelings candid and pure.

The invisible aspiring medic, the geeky orphan bookworm from the middle society has stolen the heart of a _prince_. It was almost too good to be true, yet there she was, clinging to him like she couldn't breathe without him, following his every step with a trust she would not grant to any other living soul;

Sasuke could have lead her anywhere he pleased and she would take his hand wordlessly; she has given herself to him unconditionally when she has met him and he never betrayed her. Life without him meant an existence dried of colors; an empty canvass where tears were flooding the infinite depressing white, mixing into the decaying palette.

And sure enough she knew where he was leading her: to supreme pleasure. Sakura has never been the girl to crave for men and lust for their touches; sex has only been a steamy topic to be discussed among the girls when they had a get-together. But she just couldn't keep her hands off Sasuke. She had him more than one could count, yet she wanted him even more. Sasuke was the endless river of crystal water pouring down her opened arms, flooding her tired body with his cosmic energy and radiating strength.

The coast line shimmered blue and silver, like a cavern full of precious diamonds as the gentle breeze was playing into their hair, ruffling their clothes, cooling down their heated skin. The pungent salty fresh scent of the ocean was an invitation for the senses to bathe in tranquility.

"Do you mind?"

"How could I?"

"You are a busy man. And I know who you are. With your status, you must find this childish."

"The only thing I find it to be juvenile is your idea of me not adulating every face you possess." He removed his hand from her hold, enfolding it around her waist, gluing her to his body. They were basically embracing, their bodies mashing like one displaying their feelings and unity, while they let their steps fall into a lethargic smooth tango, down the narrow street. "Show me every side of you. It cannot but make me thirstier for you."

"I can be so annoying sometimes..." Sakura felt sorry for pestering him every time she had a problem, a sad or confusing experience, needed an advice or she simply had a small joy she wanted to share with him, but he was a lighthouse in the middle of her tumultuous stormy life and she reached for his life saving light, desperately."...but I cannot help myself to feel so at ease around you. From the very first time I have seen you, I knew you will understand how I feel." One mysterious look, a timid flutter of her eyelashes, his charming dark allure, her radiant smile, his entrapping lean pose, her delicate digits running through her velvet hair.

Sasuke gave the angelic pinkette one of his sexy smirks, being very amused at how naive she could be. "Hn. You are _annoying_..." He taunted playfully and she knew it was an appellative used to stir her but never to ridicule her. "...but you are mine." He leaned the gasping rosette towards him out of the blue, to kiss her lips, forcing her to tiptoe giggling into his mouth, when suddenly there were soap bubbles floating above the Uchiha's head, entangling in his ruffled silk ebony spikes.

There were some **children** bubbling bubbles in front of a candy store, **singing** and **jumping** on their small feet playfully and totally carefree, blowing hundreds of soap bubbles in the colors of the rainbow catching the fading pale light, shimmering like diamonds all over the place.

_Like the sacred path towards Heaven._

"Have I ever told you how much _I love_ you?" Sakura sang to the midnight haired man in that dreamy ethereal feminine way that made his heart thump like a drum.

"I don't mind hearing it every minute..." He replied in his characteristic silky low voice, seeing how their steps were carrying them towards a less populated place and the harbor was already in his field if view. "…year..." His tone went lower and more velvet. "…century..." There were some curious eyes coming from the opposite direction heading to the festival that scrutinized them, probably recognizing the handsome billionaire, but that was the last thing in his mind. "**Eternity**..."

"What stories do you think they have to share? Are they similar to ours?"

"Each story is unique. And there are still so many we can create…"

"Then let us make one now, shall we? Buy me an ice cream. I want...chocolate...and vanilla!" She stopped abruptly coming in front of a still smirking at her Uchiha heir, while placing her hands on his chest. Her eyes...those exceptional verdant irises of her, in the purest shade of fresh leaves bathed in the morning dew drops, were shimmering with a contagious hope and optimist, one that Sasuke couldn't resist.

He simply lost himself into those emerald irises, be it when they talked or made love, he had to _see_ her _eyes_. They were the gateway to her virtuous uncorrupted soul and that absolute gentleness was making him love her so much.

Never...Sasuke would never tell her _no_.

He would do **anything** she would ask for, even selling his own **soul** to see her smiling like that. Even for a second...he would tousle everything he had, in a heartbeat.

"Hn." They stopped in front of the first ice cream stall that came their way and Sakura has spent a good five minutes to end up buying a huge cup with each flavor she had, much to Sasuke's amusement. He took out his wallet and paid for a mix of stracciatella, vanilla, chocolate, tiramisu, strawberries, mango and even yoghurt, without even bothering to wait for the change -_people like him were used to leave much more than the bill's actual price when they went out for lunch_-his eyes never leaving a beaming Sakura

She offered him some out of reflex even if she knew all too well that Sasuke didn't have much of a sweet tooth _-tomato freak_\- but he leaned in to lick her lips and steal a kiss from her when she melted at the chocolate share of the frozen sweet dessert.

A gentle cool breeze slipped past them, as they were leaving the crowded streets behind, getting closer to the calm ocean, bathed into the fade light of the round full blue moon and the shimmering colorful lights of the coast line. "That's the harbor!" The pink haired delighted beauty shot her finger in the said direction taking in the approaching silvery yachts and the huge cargo ships waiting to enter the harbor. She turned towards Sasuke to confirm her suspicion, as excitement grew in the pits of her stomach. "_Your_-"

"Aa."

Sasuke would occasionally take her for a cruise on one of his ultra-luxury yachts, but they would usually _'sneak_' on one that would wait for them in a more secluded part of the docks, which belonged to his family. Not that time though, since he was taking her right in the middle of a...

"Why are there so many lights? Oh, I see. It is a party!" When they reached the base of the gangway, Sasuke maneuvered her so that she would walk in front of him, while her shimmering orbs were gaping at everything around. "There was a party on your yacht and you haven't told me!" She pouted comically at the raven haired Uchiha and he smirked down at her.

Of course he hasn't either ways it wouldn't have been a surprise anymore. He nodded briefly at the crew who were saluting their boss as the Uchiha and his escort passed them by, going straight to the main deck.

"You were with you friends." And he didn't want to be a bother.

"True but..." She wanted to say that he could have invited them over but she remembered that Naruto and Hinata were not aware of her affair. It was getting heavier to hide and have the best of both worlds. "I would rather be with you." Sakura told him in a tiny voice while she let her eyes wonder around.

A slim digit slipped under her chin, angling her face so that he could kiss her softly, while the Captain of the ship himself made his presence known behind the oblivious pair, coughing once to make his presence known to the two and saluted them politely. "Welcome, Sir. Miss." He led the way with his hand. "This way please."

Sakura turned crimson red in shame that she has been caught in such a position but Sasuke was not affected by all. He gave the man his usually impassive stoic looks and Sakura was once again astonished by the nonchalance in his easy change in behavior.

"Come." He told her gently, but his playful romantic attitude turned into a more serious and elegant one. Of course, he was in _his _environment so naturally the etiquette was different. It was funny really if Sakura would to think that the majority was down on the crowded boulevards while she has been propelled among the _elites_.

Thanks to him. _Uchiha _Sasuke.

She followed eagerly, inwardly thanking Ino for forcing an elegant dress which wasn't quite too flashy and exaggerated as for a masquerade party either ways she would have never blended into the exquisite ladies surrounding her. "Whoa!" Well, _blending in_ was not quite the most fortunate term, since she was with the host himself.

_Very_ different. Elegant. Exclusive. Tasteful. People were wearing opulent clothes, flashing the hottest world's most expensive brands. Shining diamonds, pure gold jewelry was adorning the women's necks, ears and hands while they sipped deluxe beverages.

Men of all the ages were keeping them company, they too wearing formal deluxe suits, polished shiny shoes, and some were so palatial in their slim dark flannel coats fastened high on their broad chests and high black silk top hats and while gloves, creations of the top French couturiers.

Chatters were light and reserved, the atmosphere was cozy and intimate; soft melodic angelic tunes of a choir of violins, flutes and a grand piano, maneuvered with mastery by the skillful players were coming from the live jazz band, the Italian crystal and English porcelain glassware, filled with rich sumptuous wine assortments and fancy cocktails, the flower arrangements which gave off the vibe of a floating huge garden, spreading an elegant fresh heavenly scent of bergamots, red and white roses, pink azalea, gladiolus, golden freesia and lily, creating a splendid explosion of colors.

Everything was bathed in a serene light and Sakura couldn't help the tingles from her heart. She felt so different, so **good** and so..._welcomed_ there, unlike the previous unfriendly environment from the festival.

Every each person there was not obnoxious, their gestures were calm, mannered and they minded their own business. No one pushed her or stepped on her foot accidentally or bumped her and she wasn't feeling hurried or pressured.

And she got a five starts magnificent vista over the open sky scintillating with million stars, visible on the clear night sky. Starry open sky, opposite to the sweaty bodies and unbearable hit explosion of blinding colors and overflow of people. "This is..." She turned around to the man who introduced her to his wonderful luxurious fancy world, both facing the vast ocean, their backs on the partying people. He had his right hand on the rail. "What for?"

He understood that the emerald eyed lady was inquiring the reason why a party was hosted there so he answered her without much thought. "A merger." It was not something new for Sasuke since he was well used to such gatherings, in fact he found it rather _boring_ but Sakura being there with him changed his overview. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes, please. Champagne."

He nodded once, while briefly brushing his fingers of her palm, stirring a queasy fluttering sensation on her chest with that simple act. "I will be back. Got any preference?" It was out of reflex the fact that he asked her since the midnight haired Uchiha knew all too well what Sakura preferred in terms of drinks.

"_Surprise_ me." She leaned on the rail, letting the lazy rolls of the small waves washing the coast line lull her into meditation. The mesmerizing horizon at dawn blazed. Crimson and orange and everything Sakura cast her viridian orbs on, she liked it. She liked in there, she enjoyed the view of the beautiful people and she liked Sasuke.

She followed his retreating back while he walked past his guests towards the bar, to search for what she asked and she smiled, while following each fine contour of his lean tall aesthetic silhouette. Even among fancy people his presence was outstanding. Everywhere he went to, all the eyes were on _him_.

Suddenly something familiar flickered on her side and Sakura turned her head over her left shoulder just in time to catch a totally unsurprising sight. And her jade eyes went wide as saucers as her jaw almost hit the floor. Shikamaru and Temari were loitering around the salad bar, each with his respective plate of food, while she would occasionally fed him with a bit of her food, using her own fork and he leaned in to kiss her neck. Each gesture of them screamed _we are together, happy, in love and don't give a damn who might see us_\- just like she and Sasuke. "Isn't that-" Her monologue has been cut short by a cold glass glued to her bare shoulder, startling her.

"Where you daydreaming about _something _particular?" She took the high slim cup of a golden Champagne, while Sasuke enjoyed his own, which was holding in his available hand, smirking at her, and he glued his lips on her ear making her shudder. "_Someone_ maybe?"

"Hm?"

"I have seen someone from college." He rose an eyebrow at her, while the pinkette still had her eyes on the oblivious displaying pair and Sasuke followed her forest green irises, curious of what she was so focused on. His onyx hawk sharp orbs fell on Shikamaru and Temari. turning his head over his shoulder. "The guy with the pineapple hairstyle and the blonde." She pointed her index in the direction of the said lovers, who were on the opposite side as them unaware of the fact that Sasuke has already had them in his field of view. "Do you know them?"

She asked, assuming that he might have had since the people around were probably his business partners or close acquaintances and she was half surprised to learn that Shikamaru or Temari -_or both_\- were fancying such entourage.

Sure, Sakura knew from a stalking head over heels Ino, who performed a complete investigation on Shikamaru's background, that he was of a good family, owning a hospital and a farm in New Mexico, but she had no idea he was _that_ rich.

Sasuke remained silent. She went on briefing him, like the handsome midnight haired billionaire actually gave a damn about college gossip. "Ino secretly likes him but he only has eyes for Temari. They are the perfect couple if you were to ask me. Don't tell her that, I don't want her to be disappointed."

"_Not_ always..." To her surprise he actually listened to what she said _-he always did_\- but his answer was vague. "...it is destiny's hand."

"What?" She arched her perfect thin coral eyebrows at him, not quite catching the meaning of his words. The fact that she has met him was a little miracle by itself. She felt pretty bad for Ino though. The blonde was there going through hell -_mall_\- and back to catch his eye, yet he was entertaining another lady, on Sasuke's party! The irony was at its finest there. "Then how did _we_ meet?"

Sasuke turned towards her seeing that the two of them disappeared somewhere more private, and took her by the waist while she sipped her fancy sweet flavored drink. "_I_ have been waiting for you."

"You are such a liar." She said coyly and he leaned towards her, as swift as a snake, kissed her while she eagerly responded placing a hand around his shoulders, playing with his hair. "More like...charmed me." She whispered upon his sumptuous lips when they pulled apart, but kept their faces one breath away off each other.

"You wanted me."

"I want you _now_." She replied darkly, taking him by surprise. It was all written into the unique net of emerald and deep forest green fine lines on her emerald irises and he recognized the love, the wanting, the lust and desire.

Desire to feel him, touch and taste his lips, his skin, his body and everything of him she could reach. He responded with another hard lip lock, stealing her breath away, relishing into the exuberant rich taste of _Pinot Noir and Chardonnay Dom Perignon Champagne_ on her lips and tongue. He pulled her away from the polished shimmering main deck, his right hand locked on her lower back and she silently followed him, easily slipping past the guests.

She threw one more glance towards the amused guests imprinting the beautiful view on her retina. Better remember anything beautiful the world had to offer. Elegant ladies, delicate soft makeup, sweet smiles, subtle blushes, exquisite music, fancy drinks, mild warm lights, sumptuous exotic fruits salads. Slim curves. Subtle caresses. Chaste touches. Slow dancing people. Mysterious, inviting, invigorating and .His world.

_/this world is the one I am looking for/_

"I know, _dear_." She snuck her hand around his waist, gluing her body on his left side, while they walked, embraced, to another less populated side of his huge three story yacht. He knew she was enjoying herself and didn't speed up his pace, going for a lazy slow one. They had all the time in the world.

"**Everything **about you is so **perfect**." Sakura started dreamy while he was caressing her back. "Perfect life, perfect people, perfect looks...perfect moments." she looked at the shooting stars and caught the gleam of a pretty big one, descending the sky at a maddening speed of light, grazing the clear sky in the shape of an arc of a circle. She quickly threw a wish towards the Heavens, giggling like a child. "It's like magic. A dream. I don't ever want to wake up."

She knew she could have everything. All she had to do is just say _yes_ and they would be gone. She didn't need a thing from her past life, not even her phone. The Uchiha _millionaire _would give her the world, his heart and his family name, with the power within, social status and, the most important of all, his _love_; the kind of amour that turned shooting stars into dreams of light and touched her heart gently filling her up with devotion care protection and endless sweet kisses.

"My existence only has a meaning if you are by my side." He entangled his hand through her locks brushing a tug behind her ear, caressing her cheek. "Stay." He whispered and the echo of his entrapping invitation danced on the heartstrings of the gentle night, like it was meant to transcend space and time, coming back like a boomerang to be her guide through the road of destiny.

His impossibly breathtaking black sapphire eyes were flickering like grandiose lighthouses on his mild serene face as he inched closer to her; she stood there charmed into his embrace while he slowly backed her up on the railing as wind was playing into her fluttering velvet hair, making it flutter like a crane's delicate wings, rippling upon her shoulders, while her hands snuck around his shoulders, as her fingers dug into his silk expensive suit.

No other was able to look her in the eyes with such a feverous intensity, and Sakura felt the sparkles of emotion float like colorful playful bubbles, touched by his warmth. It was in those magical moments she spent with him when she realized how much she got to love this Sasuke Uchiha. An year ago, he was the drop dead gorgeous rich stranger. One breathtaking kiss later, he became her lover and the purpose for her life.

_/Dreams like a scattered necklace on the floor like pearls of a broken necklace, he was collecting in his tender hands and he was sewing them back into her heart, where he was making her feel complete once again/_

One would think of Sakura as a superficial woman, but she was not and Sasuke knew it all too well as well. As a woman from the middle class, of course Sakura enjoyed a life of luxury, after all, it was only human for every living to not want a life of a beggar living under a rooftop with nothing to cover with at night, instead, to have anything he could dream of and even beyond.

But what he also knew was that Sakura truly loved _him _and not his money alone and she herself was always reminding him that such a life only had a meaning if he was part of it, either way she would end up willingly chasing men like Sai. Her fiancé was rich as well, not as rich as the Uchiha was, but he knew the taste of extravagance as well, yet she would chose a poor Sasuke over him any time and any day, without even thinking.

There were endless women craving and dreaming to add his family name to their first name simply because it came as a synonym for _nobility_ and opened any gates, but no Sakura. She would have gladly taken the _Uchiha_ if only it came along with the owner's heart. A name meant to describe a deep holly union between them, as lovers and men and woman, shoeing to the entire world that they belonged to each other as husband and wife. Because they loved each other.

_U-chi-ha Sa-ku-ra_

The two added name had a very strong resonance inside Sakura's pounding heart and even the equal number of syllables portrayed the **perfect harmony** of their souls.

As soon as they reached the first floor, Sasuke pinned her up against a door -_whether at random or not she didn't know or cared_\- and next thing he knew, he had his tongue inside her mouth tasting her greedily as far as he could reach, trapping her into a ravenous French kiss and, unlike how he was kissing her minutes ago when he couldn't go for her lips like in a movie aware of not to offend their spectators, he had no inhibitions to let his hands tango over her body, massaging her breasts, thighs and rubbing her ass, through the dress she wore while she did the same, slipping her hands under his shirt, palming his flexing hard steel muscles.

"Sakura..." He dropped her name like silk roses and she purred into his arms, her viridian eyes fogged and shimmering desire. A fire that stirred his own longing for her. Five days. Five days he hasn't seen her -_damn his business meetings_\- and he was suffocating without her taste, luscious honey flavored lips, floral sweet scent and creamy skin.

She was his addiction, a weakness he would gladly indulge into. She was mewling and moaning his name softly while he was planting butterfly kisses on her exposed cleavage, licking her rounded firm breasts. "Oh...S-Sasuke..."

He slid his access card through the sensor lock, and the moment he heard the _click _accompanied by the green access button beaming, he pressed the door opened and pushed Sakura gently inside, as it locked automatically behind them.

And their worlds collided when their mouths joined together in a maddening combination of sweet honey insanity, gums, teeth, slick tongues dancing together upon cashmere moist lips and they tasted each other, like satiating their thirst indulging in heavenly apricots nectar.

Their hands were desperate for skin contact, but the moment Sakura felt Sasuke`s steps leading her down on his bed, to lean her and explore her fully like he desired, she has stopped him, letting her hands rest on his half exposed chiseled chest.

Their breaths were fusing while the raven confused haired Uchiha was resting his hot forehead on her temple, onyx lusted orbs half opened, cast on her whispering lips. "S-Sasuke…I want t-to…"

Sakura had no idea of why was she still feeling that hesitant and shy, even if she did what she wanted to do in that moment, for so many times before. She threw Sasuke a coy smile, while her rosy cheeks flamed with an adorable tint of dark strawberries. "Let me…_taste_ you, first." Her soft tune no louder than a mouse`s.

Said man smirked down at her, clearly understanding her message and he grew instantly rock hard as he felt her shy slim hands unbuckling his belt, letting it slither inside his dark boxers, slowly and sensually, palming his soft lean member, feeling desire shot through her, mirroring into her viridian clouded glistening eyes.

Eyes that collided with his deep black sapphire ones. Eyes begging for contact. Eyes craving to be set free. Sasuke gave her absolute freedom in exploring him and tests the limits of her newfound sexuality, with a short nod and a quick maddening wet kiss placed upon her eager parted plump lips.

"Do _everything _you want."

* * *

The pink haired woman kneed in front of him, with her left hand gently fisted around his engorged lean member, while her right one was running up and down the impressive toned muscles of his abdomen. The lean fibers felt steel like under her fingertips rippling as she danced over his alabaster skin, tickling and provoking him, while her eager mouth enveloped his thick rosy head, suckling relentlessly.

Even if her position seemed rather submissive, in reality she never once felt inferior, cheap dirty or disrespected. She was always the one in control and his own harsh inhales and low rich grunts were a solid proof of her dominance, but instead of being rewarded with wild animalistic gestures and reflexes, she only got fender delicate caresses.

Fighting all the normal innate masculine driving, Sasuke restrained his urges to pound into her mouth and orally assault her, liker his throbbing dripping member itched to, instead he let her accommodate him at her own liking and pace, making their actions feel as natural and comfortable as possible.

He made the emerald eyed lady feel no pressure and no restrain. He set her no limits and no manner of his was similar to how a cheap woman would get in return. He didn't want Sakura to satisfy him as she was doing her best to try and please him too; he wanted her to_ love_ him in all the ways she wished and deemed fit.

If tasting his flesh so intimately made her feel united to him, he would gladly welcome that bond they had and he would be a hypocrite not to admit how skillful she was. But it was more than physical pleasure could comprise. It was the result of the ardor they felt for each other the power that made their connection feel so intense and allowed them to experience such a high level of pleasure.

He respected Sakura and not once did he mean to make her feel less than a _queen_. He cherished and treated her presence like he treasured a sacred fire of an ancient temple. His fingers were entangled into her silk coral locks, massaging her scalp and twirling the lousy curls on his index fingers, occasionally sliding down her slim long swan neck, massaging her shoulders, or caressing her jaw and chin.

His velvet touch was fueling her own desire and the need she had for his persona was greater. She felt ten times heavier on her lower regions, where she was soaked and burning all over, in anticipation for the upcoming joining of their bodies. Sakura did nothing to hold back her prolonged guttural mewls, and her sexy feminine humming were making Sasuke's primal instincts explode in madness.

He couldn't wait to be inside her again...and again; until they would become forever one and inseparable. He only felt complete inside her body; he was inside her while she was inside him.

She was lowered at the level of his feet, yet she was sitting on a throne inside his heart; she was atop of his world, never once inferior or less than perfect beauty and delicacy. Her fragile sumptuous rose kissed lips, as gentle as the wings of a mariposa butterfly, were suckling the sensitive wrinkled skin of his full of semen balls, pulling at the elastic hardened tissue as much as the fine line between pleasure and pain allowed and Sasuke was melting into her mouth.

She regulated her breaths and spread her mouth wide, while he slowly pushed himself down her throat and Sakura saw stars. She could feel his hot and soft member tingle her insides and she swore his throbbing pulsating shaft hit her chest, throbbing along the rhythm of her erratic heart. Magically enough, his impressive well-gifted length was not chocking her.

He was sweet, soft, delicate and a major turn on. When she retracted her head, dragging her lips over his engorged foreskin, letting him go with a _pop _of trailing saliva and his essences, locking her toxic viridian lustful gaze with his own hazel charcoal one, she smiled the most hypnotic beam that Sasuke ever seen on an **angel** like her, then she resumed her tasting him, becoming an epitome of sinfully innocence.

Warm slick rivers of saliva were leaking down her chin and arched throat, as her playful tongue was rolling over his sack, while her fingers curled around his pulsating erect manhood, sliding up along its impressive length, up and down, pumping him, faster and faster, as his breath hitched down his throat; she smirked and he noticed.

He has been a good teacher for the once unpolished diamond who educated herself into a fine sparkling gemstone; he let her practice as many times as she wished, getting more and more eager to unveil the deepest insight and secrets of how to properly make a man feel good, even if he more than proved her that technique paled in comparison to devotion, emotion and real attachment.

"You..." His velvet rich alto voice came as a throaty growl, while Sakura's petite fingertips were tantalizing his soaked slick dripping head, rubbing the small hole with her thumb, tracing her tongue experimentally from the thick base to the inside of his member, where tint veins were protruding and pumping adrenaline, boiling blood and insanity. "Don't have to..." She placed a sloppy chaste kiss under his bellybutton, where tiny hints of dark hair were trailing the lean hard muscles and he flinched under her touch. "...do this."

He faced the ground, opening his pit jet sapphire orbs, letting them clash with sparkling intense forest green ones. She blinked teasingly but gave him a soft innocent earnest smile, while his half opened bathed in lust eyes filled with fire. Her duality was getting him over the edge; it was the maddening reason why he set his eyes on her from the first time: such iconic angelic innocence was blending with the wild lioness inside her like a mosaic of seduction and she was _irresistible_.

The heavenly ineffable of her pure unfaltering voice was doubled by the eagerness to abandon herself inside his arms. "I know, but..." She pressed her warm smooth palm on his toned bare thigh, dragging it up and down, caressing him, while he was tracing his index over her lower lip. "...I _want _to. Am I not making you feel good?" The hurt in her voice has fazed him; she was not making him feel good, she was bringing him up to the clouds.

He let his finger slip past her moist soft petals, brushing her gums with his fingertips, while she shut her foggy glistening lustful green garnet eyes, sucking his slim long digit, while she felt his unoccupied hand rest upon her own, intertwining their fingers, holding her tightly. "You always feel like Heaven, my _angel_." His cashmere like whispered tune tingled her eardrum with love and honesty.

One hand was massaging her scalp, occasionally taking a fist of her soft pink hair and brushing the falling on her face locks, gently, while the other was sliding down her spine, while his palm slipped past the ample crevice of her firm pushed up ass giving it a little squeeze, as a lazy finger was curling inside her core, while she was spraying him with her essences and the excitement was only doubled by her throaty dragged moans of pleasure.

She was bobbling her head back and forth, allowing her tongue more room to envelop his length and graze his foreskin, following the synchronized rhythm of her energetic fingers wrapped around the base, giving him a full experience.

Sasuke had honestly no idea of why was Sakura enjoying sucking him so bad, but her arousal and pleasure was visibly in the way her body was reacting every time she felt him on her mouth or she urged him to spill his seed inside her hot slick cavern, greedily licking and suckling every drop of glistening juicy semen, imprinting his taste on her tongue.

Another thing he knew she was enjoying was playing submissive, while in reality, she had so much power and control, because that position allowed her to be face to face to him. And she had a free hand to run past his navel, all the way up and down his lower abdomen, where his hard rock firm muscles were sensually submerging under his well-endowed manhood, making the green garnet eyed lady sprawl her palm over the ample valley of his godly lower body, rubbing him and feeling the raw power diffusing from his lean fibers.

He remembered when he has first initiated her into giving him an oral. She used to be so shy but the hesitation came from the lack of self-trust she had at that time when he has met her. She kept on saying that she was afraid to do something wrong to be displeasing or hurt him, but when her heavenly lips wrapped around his dripping head, descending down his shaft while her mouth was accommodating with the alien sensation and unfamiliar experience, Sasuke swore he saw supernovas exploding in billions of rapture star dust, dancing under his eyelids. She was so damn good and she felt twice amazing than Heaven.

And Sakura came to enjoy it so much and feel so at ease with him, because Sasuke was giving her feedback. He wasn't just staying passively, while she felt dirty and used. No, he was always caressing her cheeks, played in her hair, twirling her fallen locks, or massaged her nape and shoulders, in a tender loving way. He was aware of how humiliating and servile that stance could be for a woman and that was no random woe he has bumped into on the streets.

That was his lover and her feelings were as sacred as an ancient temple, with holly burning flames of love, consideration, respect and trust. That was why Sasuke always knew how to give the perfect dosage of domination, possession and control. He left her as much room as she wanted to taste him as she pleased, experience what she liked to do, how far she wanted to go and how did she like to touch him.

Everything was fine with him as long as she felt content. She could have stopped and say _no_ whenever and he would have took his turn to please her and love her until she would only be aware of two things: how to fly and how to scream his name in rapture, until it got tattooed on her tongue, heart and marked on her soul as his only treasure and woman.

Only _his_. And only_ her_.

In time, their timid simple petting became a spicy activity, when slowly but surely, Sakura started to beg him to let his magic hands play with her body and take the arousal and chemistry between them to another level.

There was nothing she loved more than to go through every position known with him and love him in any way known by the humans from the beginning of history, from the most primal to the most intimate or passionate, but she loved the idea of being submissive to him, while he went rougher with her, and that was solely because of to the level of trust existent between them.

Sakura trusted the onyx eyed man with her life and more and she was helplessly adulating him as she was not hesitant into doing anything he might suggest, well aware that she would come to yearn and beg for a second round when he finished.

The splashing sound of sweet trails of saliva leaking down her chin and throat, fusing with his hot sperm dripping from his hard steel engorged member, was rising the unbearable suffocating level of arousal and fire, intoxicating both their minds; heavy pants, guttural moans and throaty growls, as well as the heated sound of ruffled clothes, scraping on the heated sweaty skin touching, grinding and feeling high, trembling.

A soft breeze blew through the partly opened window, making the golden sewed curtain flutter, cooling down the fire on their racing hearts. "Stand up." Sasuke beckoned her gently, while he kept their hands links, helping her get up and she obeyed like in a trance, trapped into his mesmerizing blazing jet orbs.

"Sasuke..." If love was wind, then it would be his name the one to be her echo. "I-" She wanted _more _from him, _more_ fire, _more_ taste, _more _soft flesh, but as soon as she raised in front of him, reaching his chin with her forehead, he swiftly leaned in and pressed his soft moist tongue on her lower lip, tasting himself on her mouth. She spread her rose petals more, moaning contently when the tip of his tongue flickered upon her own; a passionate kiss, her hands locked securely around his neck, his fingers dug into her skinny shoulder blades, as his muscled arms secured her into his chest, possessively, her French manicured nails buried into his luscious black lacquerer rich hair, grazing his scalp, the insane exploding chemistry between their perfectly molding on each other faces and they were long forgotten to the others around, at the same time with reality fading with the last traces of the sun at dawn.

The velvet lavender sky and the sparkling star dust of the Milky Way, guarding the serene opened night sky above the vast ocean, had every loving embrace and tender emotion written inside the million stars, until their story transcended the dark limbs of time and passed into eternity.

"C-Can we..." She chirped in between his intoxicating kisses, as his lips were suckling on her pulse and his tongue was feeling life pumping through her lost in bliss body. " ...do it here?" While she could still hold on her sanity -sweet merciless illusion of freedom of will and spirit- Sakura never once forgotten the fact that they were at a high class party, surrounded by fancy exclusive audience and Sasuke was the finest of all and the host nonetheless.

Surprisingly, she has been rewarded with a dark self-absorbed chuckle, that made her both get thrills and cold shivers rippling down her spine in anxiety that someone might have found them in such an intimate moment and her inner walls clench painfully once, reminding her how bad she wanted him; she squirmed into his arms, digging her nails down his lean high shoulders, letting out an agonizing moan when a hand snuck under the deep cut of her dress and palmed the front of her lace embroidered string."Sasu-Ah!"

"Have you forgotten_ who_ am I?" He tantalized her with a hot whisper upon her lips, when his long index digit went under her pointed chin, pressing his thumb upon her lower lip, bringing her face to the level of his breathtaking onyx amused eyes, letting her feel his fresh mint fan over her parted mouth; she was breathing his oxygen as he was making her tired body come to life.

"This is _my_ ship." She went still under his touch, while his cashmere yet dominant touch was turning her knees into boulders. He was so breathtakingly sexy that it was almost surreal how handsome that man could be. "This people are here because _I_ allowed them to organize their useless pajama party in here."

Sakura let her eyelashes fall, as her forest green shut eyes were rolling at the back of her head, the moment she felt Sasuke's slim digits slip inside her small piece of lingerie, parting her lace like glistening smooth folds, rubbing her labia and unveiled hardened bundle of nerves; "Hmmm...w-waait...b-but we-" He applied a little more pressure on the way he was massaging her impossibly damp core and she desperately tried to close her legs tights and rub her thighs together, but Sasuke's hard steel firm hand was preventing her from alleviating her unbearable tension inside her lower abdomen; the pool of adrenaline and euphoria was boiling inside and she grew impossibly wet.

Her body was melting into his touch and the fastened rises and falls of her full rounded chest were the proof of her desperation. He was playing with her and his game felt painful, agonizing and good; the road to the dark side was flashing its inviting limbs towards her and she was falling deep. "And you, my dear..." Unexpectedly, Sasuke shoved two long lean fingers inside the hot tight muscled cavern of her core, scissoring and curling them inside as he reached her deeper, feeling her body respond immediately with a harsh constriction, caging him there. His incredibly fluent calm velvet rich baritone was clashing with her stuttering mewls. "...are no other's concern, but mine and _mine_ alone."

"Oh!" Sakura threw her head back ad her pastel tresses spread over her back and shoulder, like a bride's delicate veil and she grounded her hips into his hand, urging him to pump her and he did; he decided not to let her collapse at his feet and beg him to make her find release and inserted a third finger, moving up and down, at a tempo he knew she enjoyed, while keeping a hard pressure with his thumb on her swollen clit. "Sakura." Because that was not a whore, at his mercy. That was his lover; a secret lover, but an undeniable precious woman and he would never touch that dignity with anything else than his complete adulation and respect.

Milky saccharin warm slick essences were flowing from her rocking body, leaking down his wrist, damping the sleeve of his pure white shirt, and the familiar shameful splash of liquid hitting burning skin raised to his ear making the smirking ebony haired man get ten times harder than he was. "If you _want_ me now, just say so and you will be mine."

She nodded energetically, as finding her voice among the broken harsh pants and moans was proven to be a challenge for her. But her heart answered him without stuttering as Sasuke could read the eagerness inside her unfocused hazel emerald orbs and steal the answer from her plump muttering lips. "...L-Love me...tonight..."

"**Forever**." He completed her unvoiced request as she gave him that kind of beaming angelic smile, flashing him a perfect set of pearl white teeth. He crushed his lips on her own, removing his masterful fingers from her pumping passage, helping her build a cosmic level of orgasmic state, but he wanted to make her ride an exploding supernova in a more intense way; he didn't want her to come because of him fingering her.

"This is my suite." He assured her, well aware that the emerald eyed aspiring medic has always been annoyingly obsessed with him not tainting his reputation with all her childish requests. There was nothing that meant more to Sasuke than her. He would never get tired of hammering it into her skull until it got implanted there for as long was she would shout his name in ecstasy.

"P-Pleasee...ahhh...I n-need...you..." Sakura has always been so thankful for his ability to see through her like she had a crystal transparent heart for she didn't need to explain herself. And she surely hasn't feel him take out his access card and slide it through the lock. The heavy steel door opened with a short _'click'_ and he pushed it open, but never once breaking their passionate game of lips and tongues, playing with her tongue and French kissing her to insanity.

He was the most amazing kisser and Sakura would have never have a problem in never stopping kissing him. His taste and technique were out of that world. How was it possible for someone to feel like a fountain of strawberries chocolate, vanilla and honey, yet ever ooze such an overwhelming manliness that turned her hormones as a woman into a winding speeding carousel?

"I know,_ love_. And I will give you what you want until the moon will rise and shine upon your face." His silk deep bass voice was pampering her erratic heart, while she let her steps follow his lead, as he took her with him, heading towards the four posted king sized bad, in the middle of the darkened room. She was slightly confused by the cryptically suspicious answer.

"Until the moon rises?" She questioned, while her hands detached from his slim waist where they found shelter, not so elegantly dragging his suit down his opened arms and quickly unbuttoned his shirt, cursing the fact that she was not able to see and tearing the ridiculously expensive branded fabric was out of question since he still had to reveal himself in front of elegant guests at some point. "Why not after that as well?"

Was that panic in her voice? Sasuke couldn't help but _'tsk'_ at the girl's naivety. She really thought he would get bored of her at some point and decided to use her for his own sexual pleasures and then discard her like the used condoms they -usually- used, align with their consumed passion, like she meant nothing more than a random one night of fucking a random woman's brains out. "Because you will fall asleep into my arms and I shall keep you warm until the sun rises."

God, the things that could come out of his mind were shooting her heart and filled her shimmering eyes with emotion and loved for that astonishing man. She palmed his unusual broad carved chest, running her fingertips gently along the lean rippling supple fibers of his godlike hardened bare muscles, while his hands were pulling her dress down her shoulders. When the cool salty ocean breeze hit her supple round bare breasts, she hasn't even flinch before his eyes. "Don't you _ever _sleep?"

He slowly and carefully pressed her down the silk crimson mattress and she hummed contently when the smooth cold material pampered her shuddering spine. Sasuke came to hover above her, resting on his knees, while she stood still and comfortable in between his legs, helping him discard his boxers and pants down the carpet. "I never rest."

She could only make out his mouthwatering silhouette embraced by the mild pale ethereal light of the mysterious moonlight, but Sakura didn't care. She was seeing him with her heart's eyes and she had her senses lured by him. A slick tongue flickered upon her syrupy flushed nipple, making the rosy bud harden as she shivered. "W-Workaholic..." She half joked, while her hands were touching and squeezed whatever part of his masterful body she could reach.

His expert mouth has lowered upon her left nipple, suckling and lulling at her sensitive smooth delicious skin, eating her and feeding from her inviting body with the ardent innate need of a hungry new born, seeking nourishment and life from his mother's most sacred gift for her precious offspring. "_It_ is unavoidable." But she failed to decipher the mystery behind his words.

She has found the bottle when she succumbed into his ocean, but she couldn't read the_ message_. A pair of trembling sweaty feminine hands glided down his S-shaped lean spine, spreading her fingers over his toned muscled ass, pressing her nails into his unblemished skin, while she bucked her hips up, sneaking her long bare toned legs around his thighs, grinding herself on his body. "But now y-you are with.._me_."

Sakura muttered in between her growing more vocal mewls and moans; when exactly has Sasuke helped her out of that dress and panties Sakura had no idea but she was glad she escaped the useless articles of clothing. Her bare skin could feel his own in the most natural and intimate way and it drove her mad. "Sasuke...enter me...please!"

Asking him anything was getting more and more impossible as the jet pearl eyed man kept her rich full endowed mounds squeezed together, while he was feverously sucking and squeezing and massaging her with the perfect amount of pressure and delicacy that only he was able to muster, making her see stars.

She couldn't withstand that pressure tightening her innards, while her lower abdomen felt like exploding as her all body was turning into a burning meteor, threatening to explode in million particles. That man...that astonishingly _handsome_ Uchiha Sasuke was the only one able to make her feel like dancing on the strings of time like he has stopped the limbs of the dusty pendulum for her, making her the **queen of infinity**.

"I _am_ inside you. Can't you feel me?" His tone was so soft and she flipped her emerald eyes open, blinking several times to let her view clear of the haze she had cast upon her emerald gemstones, bathed in lust and desire.

No, she was beyond rinsed and even with his breathtakingly natural gifted manhood accommodating her impossibly narrow passage, he found no restriction to freely penetrate her. "I...I think I...Ahh!" Sasuke didn't feel offended, on the contrary he knew why she was not reacting and that was why he removed his hardened shaft from her until his dripping head was the only part of him inside her core, then thrust all the way back where he belonged, spreading her wide for him to ram inside her.

She has given herself to him for so many times that her mind body and soul wasn't perceiving him as intrusive and alien. On the contrary, he felt _natural_; as natural as a bell flower smiling towards the inviting warm sun. It was still _not_ enough; it has never been enough because Sakura never got _enough _of Sasuke.

His back was arched and the ample undulating moves of his hips, grinding on her body, were making the friction between their hot skins more intense, yet he was gliding inside her too easily. "M-Mooree!" She arched her neck, pushing her upper body up, while her hands spread over the silk dark pillows, and she pressed her nails down the lilies embroidered cushion; the sound of nails scratching the expensive silk mirrored the staccato rhythm of her cries in agony; there was immense pleasure burning inside the familiar place nested inside her womb, where his throbbing member was hitting her, but she was far too soaked to find release so easily and the constriction of her inner walls was unbearable.

It was similar to being given a bit of dark sweet chocolate, but she was denied to satisfy the sugar addiction. His release was just as ardently pounding inside his bouncing balls, while his milky essences were fusing with her own, leaking in warm shimmering translucent drops along the insides of her thighs and rounded ass. As deeply rinsed as her core was, it was getting more and more difficult for Sasuke to remain joined with her, since each time he pulled back to pound inside her, his heart shaped rosy head was slipping from her entrance past her soaked spread apricot petal inner lips; she had to use a hand to quickly guide him back inside, at the same time, adoring the feeling of their united bodies under the palm of her hand.

"I know..." He reluctantly stopped kneading her breasts and playing with her perked up nipples, brining both his palms under her firm ass, lifting her lower body up, while he stood up on his knees, gently guiding her long legs around his waist, locking her ankles down his lower back, with her heels pressed down his spine. "...hold me tight." He instructed as he firmly pushed his hips forward, inserting his manhood all the way inside her, filling her up to the hilt in one swift move, making her emerald orbs snap open as her bruised lips curled in a perfect broken _'o'_; a silent rapture broke behind her lower back and eyelashes which she was unable to voice out loud.

"God! Y-Yes!" The new position allowed Sasuke to reach and hit neglected sweet key spots at the inside of her abdomen, just under her belly button where the hot excited G-point was waiting to be stirred.

Harsh deep grunts were breaking at the back of his throat; salty rivulets of sweat were cascading down his rippling muscles; lean iron hardened fibers were flexing as he has abandoned himself to a feral rhythm, moving in and out of her, fucking her hard and fast. Onyx orbs were barely creeping from behind his long rich eyelashes, just enough to catch each mimic of her beautiful face. "_Beautiful_...as you...are..." Sasuke loved to witness his Sakura, when she was wildly trashing and squirming under him, as she was touched by bliss. The way she threw her hips up to meet his feral thrusts halfway, while her twirled locks were sensually falling over her high bouncing mounds, brushing past her erect nipples, was the most intangible picture of erotic. "...you are mine."

He growled at her, low and dark, with a hint of aggressiveness into his rich contralto, but she couldn't hear or perceive anything beside the pounding sound of their skin on skin contact, thanks to the friction his manhood was creating each time he hammered her opening; her mouth went dry the moment she opened her lusted gaze to watch him claim her the blossom flower in between her legs.

His proud virility was enfolded in all his manly splendor, in the form of his pumping rock hard length, ending in a form of the tip of a sharp arrow, piercing her vagina and spreading his seed inside her. She opened like a tulip bud for him, while his hands were firmly gripping her hips, keeping her steady and as comfortable as possible.

And he wondered why she was always so adamant to feel all his manhood cascade over her hormones on rampage and taste him on her mouth. He was _beyond _gorgeous looking, every part of him. "I...a-am! Damn! F-faster!" Sakura had no problem with belonging to him. _None_. It was just a cruel ironic fated dark sense of humor the fact that she and Sasuke haven't met before she got stuck with Sai, either ways the flow of things would have been smoother.

Just as unexpectedly as a rapid mountain stream washing away the rocky valleys, her orgasm hit her senses, making her body explode in trembles of pleasure. "Ahhh!" She milked him for all he was worth; the sexual odor of their united essences and melting skin lingered between them; the entire room wore the signature of their shouted names; good thing the door was soundproof either ways they would have blown their secret affair to the others. The portholes were facing the ocean.

"Fuck just..._fuck_!" While Sakura was riding on the edge of euphoria as her release was pumping from her soaked core was spraying him like a fountain, Sasuke kept on pumping inside her, unwilling of giving up the warmth of her body. "Feel this?" His own voice was guttural and his throat sore from shouting her name, while she was writing his on the stars above.

She nodded energetically, while another orgasm started to steam in her womb, threatened to erupt like a boiling volcano. "Y-Yess! This...only..._y-you_..." She was moaning helplessly, focusing on the sensations her body was experiencing. "...c-can make me feel this..._amazing_!" Indeed, Sakura could feel everything he did to her, even when he was inside her. His member was stretching her insides, making its way up, close to where the miracle of life was nesting; where she was able to give life.

She later realized that they could make life together! They had that power in the palm of their hands; in every ticking of their heartbeats. His throbbing manhood was a comfortable pressure she felt on her lower regions and she could die happily with him planted deeply inside her, with no regret. The apogee of her belonging was at its peak only when she was making love to him and he whispered those precious candid words that made her spirit and heart waltz on the limbs of Heaven. "I-I..." She started weary as her forest green eyes bathed in the moonlight and crystalline tears, watching him tenderly.

Their gazes connected in rhymes and verses, letting their eyes look deeply into each other's souls where they harbored their deepest love. "...love you..." She sung to him while her shuddering body drown in his charms. "I l-lovee you!" She was crying all the times when they had sex and the saline spilling dew drops filling her rare viridian gemstones were all because of the tension in her trembling core and the pumping of her chest. Love and pleasure; this was the proof of how marvelous the Uchiha could have been.

"Sasukeee!" She burst out while the second orgasm, more astonishing that the first one, has erupted from her womb, spreading all over her limp body with the speed of a comet, making her shiver and tremble uncontrollably. She saw stars and his face among her sky, as his own release has found its way in the pits of his lower abdomen. Never once has his olive orbs left her face; he kept her stare hypnotized to follow his own.

"Sakurahhh..." Said woman couldn't decide what was making her pleasure double: the way he dragged each syllable of her unique name, making it sound like she meant the world, his hot offspring flooding her already slick passage, as he kept his flushed member inside her or his post orgasmic looks.

She knew he was able to give her multiple orgasms, having an incredible endurance and stamina, being blessed with a virility which rivaled his handsome features and skills. The way he was shadowing her, supporting his torso on his palms, pressing on the mattress on each side of her head, was similar to a proud lion dominating the world from the highest peak and she encircled both her arms around his shoulders, watching him lovingly, both panting heavily.

Sakura followed the rises of his chiseled chest and the way his deliciously hard protruding muscles were glistening on his damp alabaster skin. His disheveled spikes were spread over his face and neck, giving him a rebel, dangerous and unstudied look. "You are...so damn..._sexy_." She told him earnestly. He was so incredibly handsome and she was discovering his beauty every day, in the same manner as he was relishing in her feminine spellbound.

A devilish smirk which stole her breath and view graced his kissable thin lips. "Only when I want to." He leaned in to place a chaste kiss upon her lips, but she quickly arched her neck and stole another one from him, making him chuckle in that manly way that made her lower lips moisten. "Eager for more?"

"Got anything else in store for me?" She couldn't wait to hear him surprise her. He was good in guessing what she wanted from him.

A callouses warm hand was brushing the sticking strands of her rose hair, stroking her cheek. "Tell me what you want." He calmly listened to whatever her request was. As long as it was within his reach, _nothing_ she could have desired was impossible, be it physical, spiritual or material. Sasuke was ready to grab whatever shining star and lean it to her feet. She could have **the world** if she remained by his side.

"Anything that makes me feel less..." She bit her lower lip suddenly feeling shy, uncovered and helpless. "..._empty_." She was tired of feeling that continuous coldness and alienation like her soul has abandoned her body and she was left to decay in the unforgiving desert.

He knew. He knew and it pained his heart to witness that suffering that was paining hear heart every day and the fact that she was still hanging on her past was making Sasuke go insane, but he couldn't do anything since she was indulging. _Still _indulging.

So he let his body fall beside her, resting on his shoulder, while his muscular arm went behind her back, collecting her into his arms, dragging the cover towards their naked bodies. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his spicy ocean scent. His warmth has been sewing a protective loving mantle around her trembling shoulders, a security she cherished. "Thank you...Sasuke."

"You do not have to thank me for this, _angel_." He whispered, stroking her back slowly and gently, as innocent tingles were covering her skin, pressing his lips softly on her sweaty forehead, letting them linger on her porcelain skin.

"I mean…for being here. You have no idea how much I wanted you to be with me tonight." She confessed dreamy, letting her palm run over his pectorals and lean side eight packs, feeling him stir under her touch. His pulse fastened its pace and his breaths were harder and faster. She too affected him deeply. "They were all...holding hands, kissing and laughing..."

Sasuke knew that Sakura meant the other couples as her pain was palpable. Of course he knew about the abominable carnival -an ocean of cheap, loud masked people, seeking for contact, which made him disgusted and agoraphobic- and he more than knew how would Sakura feel among the other pairs: foreign and **out of the world**; like she was not _belonging_ there among them.

And he couldn't blame her for wanting to appear as his girlfriend outside his bed too. He sighed audibly, not annoyed, but discontent at her choice of still putting up with a life she clearly didn't want. "Sakura, we have been through this for so many times."

She stiffened her shoulders, being afraid to open up their eternal subject; the same conversation they have had for an year and Sasuke instantly regretted bringing that up into their conversation, knowing how fragile her mental state was. "Give me more_ time_. Just a little more...I am asking you to trust me." She lifted her emerald imploring orbs towards him and she was overwhelmed with worry. Worry that someday he wouldn't' want her and she will imminently perish. "Please..."

Dainty slim fingers found their way on his high regal cheek as they were tracing the sharp fine line of his jaw. "For now...just hold me. Hold me tight, I need to know you are here. I need this certainty."

He had nothing to tell her, because he long decided to have faith that one day, she will forever belong to him and nothing would separate what fate has brought together so intimately and emotionally. He pressed his lips upon her parted mouth, in a hard passionate kiss, leaving her breathless. "This will always be a place you can _return_ to. Whenever you want me by your side, I _will_ be there. One day, _love_..." His hands were kneading her creamy velvet skin, massaging her shoulders, the side of her breasts and ribs, the precise silhouette of her high ass cheeks, her navel and lower lean abdomen and forearms, deliberately not touching her _there_; his caresses were meant to be tender, not sexual. "...one day I will be the sole man to claim everything from you. And you shall be all mine."

Why? Why wasn't she giving it all to _Hell_ and run with him? Why was she feeling that small tensed trigger inside her throat, preventing her to tell him yes for good and officially start living the life he could give her? _Why_? From where was that hesitance coming from? Why? "I am the luckiest woman alive."

She snuggled closer to him, pressing herself on his toned lean frame, cuddling with him and nuzzling into his strong arms, running her toes over his calves, while she entangled her legs with his own. He has always been incredibly hot. "I know that I don't deserve you, but I wanna be selfish. I want to keep you for myself."

Her muffled nightingale soft tune made him chuckle at her cuteness. She was lying naked in all her bare splendor as she has perfected herself as a woman, but she still managed to be so pure hearted and innocent looking. "I want you to let me love you like you deserve, Sakura. And you deserve much _more_ than I am able to offer."

_She had no idea_, he bitterly thought, as he has let out an invisible _sigh_. She was so oblivious to where his steps were leading her, **guiding** her along the path of no return and when her time to pay the tribute od her past existence would come...he was sure that she would still _miss a coin_. It was the only way she had of_ saving_ herself. And Sasuke knew. _They _all knew, but he didn't care. "Love me, Sasuke. Just...don't leave me, or I _die_."

He glued his chin on her temple, while she closed her eyes, sneaking her hands around his torso, while his calm heartbeat lulled her to slumber. She fell asleep into his arms, forgetting anything but the man who was the guardian of her heart and the last thing she took with her during the journey through the dream world, were his words -that were always melting her insides like sweet hot caramel- I love you, my angel. "...I know, darling. I know it all-too-well."

_/And I am here to make sure that it is never going to happen..._

_Eternity has been decided since the beginning of time_

_But our history has been written in the stars _

_As long as your light will shine over me_

_My love for you will never perish_

_As long as you will nourish me will your essences_

_Life will continue to flow through my veins/_

And the same sacred words will keep the rhythm of my pumping heart which was ticking like a rusted pendulum string, in the same melancholic lullaby:

_/I love you my, Heaven_

_You played the strings of my bleeding heart with your magic fingers and turned the sad violin melody _

_Into a symphony of love/_

The undisturbed rises and falls of her heart assured Sasuke that his lover was floating over the sweet puffy clouds, in the deepest corners of her mind as she fell deep in slumber. He threw a quick glance towards the clock on the wall. _**2:45 a.m**_. He smirked. Ever since...time has**..."...refused to pass**...Sakura." He let his own onyx orbs rest, joining her into **sleep**.

.

.

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* * *

Lean slim digits were dancing over the velvet porcelain skin of the cheek resting peacefully on his chest, upon his heart, as his knuckles were brushing her delicately. A ghost of an honesty rare smile rose on Sasuke's lips as his dark pearl orbs were hungrily admiring the stunning beauty sleeping soundly unperturbed into his arms.

Unconsciously, Sakura leaned into the delicate loving caress of her secret adored one, nuzzling her nose in a cute childish way that made Sasuke's heart tick as a swift Swiss clock. Even having her senses shut down to the world as she was trapped into the fantasy of a sweet dream, her fascinated body was immediately reacting to the warmth of love that Sasuke's adulation and passionate unconditional love was magically embraced her heart with.

"So innocent..." His sensual lips whispered to the picturesque portrait of a rose haired graceful angel, always marveling at how could have someone reflect the purity of a mother of all the pearls in such an untouchable and mysterious way. There were hidden treasures taking shelter into those evergreen sparkling joyful eyes of her, reflecting the amount of feelings her unblemished spirit and candid embraces.

His fingers leisurely followed the fine contour of Sakura's sumptuous small pointed chin, as his fingertips brushed over the luscious appetizing cashmere like skin of her heart shaped curled lower lip. His senses were running high as the blood pressure and adrenaline pumping through his lean muscles was sparkling at the eternal vivid feel of that mouth he claimed for more times that he could count. No matter how many times he tasted those dark cherries past lips he was helplessly dragged by her taste which was sweeter than any _Pinot Noir champagne_, dragging him towards her.

And he indulged; he leaned towards an angelic sleeping beauty who was pressed into his body, pressing his lips tenderly upon hers.

"Mmnnn…" She stirred, while her jadeite eyes were half shut because of the morning sun rays blinding her, but when she realized where -and with _who_\- she was, her grumpy sleepy morning face changed into a mesmerizing smile, and she placed a quick kiss on his chest. "Morninggg." She purred like a cat stretching her arm around his lean waist, nuzzling closer to him.

"It was not in my intention to wake you up."

"I know. But waking up next to you in the morning makes it worth it." She closes her eyes, running her palm up and down his chest, giggling at the way his muscles were flexing under his touch, even if her mouth was going dry at the sight of him. She was just too comfortable and sleepy to tilt her head and take a lick on his abs, as she wished. He was just too tasty and godly sculpted to resist. "I wish it could always be like this."

"We can be whatever you want, Sakura." He took her hand in his, palm to palm, intertwining their fingers, as he was looking at her bare ring finger. She never wore Sai`s engagement ring when she was with him. _Never_. "All you have to do is just say _yes_."

"I am all yours, Sasuke. I will always be. And when the time will come, I will let everyone know that you are mine, as I am part of you." She nuzzled her nose under his jaw, tingling him as his breath hitched in his throat.

"I have told you before. I have an eternity to wait for you until you are ready to let it go." He stroked her back, running his fingers down her spine, making her shudder, as her thigh was brushing over his groins, feeling him going hard. She didn't mind having him again…and again….and again, until their breaths became one, giving life to an union of souls and hearts beating in unison. Their feelings for each other floated under the clear azure sky, as pure and ineffable as a white dove`s gently fluttering feathers of its snow wings. "I don't want to see you suffering anymore."

He put a finger under her chin making her watch him. "I see you are not happy with your current life, Sakura. I know what kind of man you need beside you to fulfill all your desires, Sakura, and I am positive that your fiancé is not able to give you what you want." His hand went behind her, taking something from the pocket of his suit, tasseled down the floor.

He slipped a _ring_ down her finger while his bottomless unfathomable eyes were blazing with the freed from its cage fire inside his heart. "_I_…am the one who can love you like you deserve." He pushed the breathtaking ring further letting it slide along her finger, fitting her perfectly, as the sparkling under the sun`s morning rays, reflecting the mastery, the beauty and the intricate design. "If you will allow me to."

Her eyes filled with tears, as she couldn't contain her mouth to go agape. "T-This is-"

"This is not something to make you feel pressured." He assured her, while her emerald eyes were reflecting the stunning stone of the golden band. "It is a promise. My promise to always belong to you."

"Sasuke…" She looked at the stone realizing that it was not jade. It was a diamond! A veritable emerald diamond and it probably cost a fortune, since even she knew that natural emerald and tourmaline diamonds were so rare, that even famous jewelers haven't seen more than five in their lifetime. Sasuke was _insane_ to having bought her such a ring!"…I…love you. I love you so much. So much that it burns me here." He took his palm and pressed it on her chest, seeing as her racing heart was conveying the message of all the emotions that she was not able to voice, letting them flow freely, as a rapid crystal clear spring mountain stream, flooding Sasuke`s own pumping life clock with all the gentle candor in the universe. "Can you feel it? It was like this ever since you have written your name on it one year ago. I only exist for you, Sasuke. You have given me value and now you want me to be with you."

"I want you to be my wife." He stroke her hair and cheek as he was holding her hand, brushing his thumb over the ring. "I want you to love you without any boundary."

"Then _love_ me without any boundary." She kissed him. She leaned in and crashed her lips hungrily, kissing him in a clumsy way. "There is **one more** thing left for me to do. Then, we can be forever as one." She whispered upon his lips while her palms were resting on his hard chest rising along the breaths he took.

"**Forever**…" He shifted his gaze towards the clock on the wall, narrowing his eyebrows. He _so_ had to go but was still reluctant to leave the comfort of the bed, with the woman he loved unwilling to pull apart. "…has already **began**, love."

_/you don't have that much time/_

Sakura didn't have enough words to tell him how much she loved him, but she had enough kisses to speak the endearment of her heart.

"Do you really have to go?" She mewled as he sighed, raking his fingers through his messy locks. "Can't you stay longer with me?"

"I will be back by the end of the next week. They required for the CEO to be present. It is mandatory for me to be there."

"How will I survive two weeks without you?" She lifted her hand and spread her fingers wide, looking at the flashing ring.

He smirked, claiming her lips in a passionate kiss. "Have you forgotten? I am always watching."

"How so? You will be far away. Will you call me daily?"

"Of course. Even if I don't need to. Remember..." Sakura was charmed by his eternally smooth calm voice, while her emerald orbs lingered on the stunning gemstone from the ring. "...To think of me and I will never leave your side. You will always have me."

"I like the way you talk."

"I love to see you smile."

"You know how to bring out the best of me. You always did."

"That is because everything you poses is beautiful."

"This is a thing I love about you, Sasuke. You tell me things that no one ever did before. Do you really think I am pretty?"

He brushed a falling coral tug of hair behind her ear while nodding once and she beamed. "If the others cannot see what lies underneath, it only means the stone is a precious jewel that not anyone can reach and admire its beauty. But the most valuable pearl lies within the embrace of the bottomless ocean."

"You are just too charming for your own good."

"I am merely stating facts." He pulled her into his arms, scooping her up and carrying her bridal style to the shower, as she giggled knowing what was about to come. , he had to practically jump into his private jet and fly to Rio de Janeiro but he still found time to give her a little parting gift. "Let us see if my mermaid knows how to swim." He whispered nibbling and suckling at her earlobe, as she moaned contently. "Or…if she will rapture me with her scream."

Then she realized that the suite didn't have a shower! And she freaked. "Where are we going? We are naked and the other guests-"

"Relax." Sasuke chuckled in that manly way that left her breathless and hot, heading you another door she failed to see. "No place I own can harm you in any way."

"…you are such a smooth liar."

_/yet you keep on fascinating me and make me gravitate around you like a lost planet seeking the sun`s gentle blazing embrace, as life blooms from the pits of darkness, to sustain the most miraculous of things. The very essence of the Universe`s existence: love as the origins of life/_

_I know that nothing would harm me as long as you hold me. I can stand in the middle of the unleashed hurricane, while your power will shield me, guarding me as I witness the world crumble around me. Because if I don't feel scared, then I can welcome the eternal calm of the aftermath/_

"But my feelings for you are honest." She leaned her head on his shoulder, planting butterfly kisses along his collarbone, closing her eyes. Sasuke had an adjacent cabin with a huge Jacuzzi filled with bubbles and lotuses.

Oh _damn_...

* * *

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IV.

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* * *

She didn't want to be there at all. She really did not have any suicidal thoughts that day which meant she didn't want to put up with her mother's bullshit, but her aunt was visiting from abroad and she well...kinda had to be present.

Plus, her cousin was a cute pie and he adored the pink haired young beauty. Sakura was waiting arms crossed in the living room, seating on the other side of the L shaped sofa, while her scowling mother chose the farthest place from her daughter.

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes; such love between her mother and her daugh-

"Mebuki, it has been such a long time!" Both women whipped their heads towards the shot open door, revealing a beaming figure of their blonde aunt and her son. "My, you haven't age a single day!" Her mother jumped from her place, embracing her equally thrilled sister.

"Megame-chan...always the caring older sister."

"Oh, Sakura, I almost haven't recognized you! " Said aunt shifted her gaze from her sister to her pink haired daughter. Sakura beamed a honest small polite smile towards the woman as they kissed each other on the cheeks. She liked the woman. They were not exactly close since their visits were seldom, but it was one member of her family that she could put up with. "You grew into such a fine lady! There is _something_ about you..." She curled her lips in a cute way while she seemed deep in thoughts. Sakura crept an eyebrow at her. Did she mean she was weird? "...hm..I can't quite put my finger on it but..."

"Hmpf...she is just arrogant since she got herself a fiancé." Mebuki interrupted the small aunt and niece moment rudely; the reason why she had made her sister came over as because she was bored and Sai's family was out of town with business.

But the woman of the same blood as her ignored Mebuki for the moment while she stared at Sakura's face. "Your eyes..." she started a bit edgy, not wanting to offend her kind niece but she couldn't help herself. It was a thing between relatives to make such out of place useless remarks, like how much you have aged or how skinny you have become. "They are-"

"Mommy?" An extremely adorable five years old preschooler, clad in a navy suit with a bright red tie and big deep marine blue round eyes like his mother's, came to her feet. "_Who_ is she?" And pointed his finger towards a very confused Sakura. Even Mebuki who paid no mind to her daughter's business or interaction with the others -beside Sai who was her gold digger- was surprised.

"Konohamaru, honey, that was mean." His mother scolded him gently, feeling very ashamed of her son's behavior. She looked at her niece's face and she saw sadness, shock and perplexity, all mixed into those unusually forest green orbs which were distracting her. "Don't you _recognize_ your cousin? She used to read you stories with Mickey Mouse."

The boy lifted his wide puppy eyes to Sakura, as he tightened his grip on his mom's long skirt. Sakura dropped to her knees, thinking that she was scaring him with her high -she was taller than the last time he saw her and she wore heels- attempting to reach him.

The boy stood there unmoving staring at her hand in a puzzled way. "Konohamaru? It is all right, don't be afraid. We used to play hide and seek and build sand castles together, ne?" She used a sugary soft angelic voice.

To her shock, he slapped her hand away, screaming "No! Don't touch me don't touch me don't touch me!" And continued to flail, while Sakura's emerald eyes filled with burning tears prickling at the corner of her befuddled eyes.

"Konohamaru, what went into you?! His mother scoops him in her arms, stroking his back to comfort him, since the boy was still trashing in her arms, howling and kept on repeating same words to Sakura not to approach him "She is your cousin, Sakura." The woman tried while locking gaze with Sakura and Mebuki, apology and compassion dancing into her azure eyes.

Those were her relatives. They shared a bond which went with the same blood they shared and she was deeply ashamed. Her sister and the jade eyed daughter used to spend their summer holidays at her home in Amsterdam when she gave birth to Konohamaru and the pinkette has grew very fond of the adorable toddler and he adored her.

She would take him to the playground and even build sand castles together as she pampered him with her gentleness and love. That was why his behavior came as odd to each witness. Moreover, it was him who practically radiated of joy when he heard they would visit his pink haired cousin.

_Then why-_

"-look at what you have done." The woman addressed her much calmer boy who had tears spilling down his small reddened cheeks.

"I am sorry. I don't know what I have done." Sakura stood up, having her head cast down, facing the floor while some longer coral locks fell from her hairpin in her eyes concealing her face; she was beyond remorseful. Her aunt hasn't missed the way she took three steps back away from the odd family.

But she couldn't...

That look on her cousin's deep clear eyes was plaguing her mind and she was sure she will dream of them at night. They were absolutely horrified like he has witnessed the end of the world; like every tomb from the cemetery broke in half and all the dead have emerged from their coffins. "Something similar..." She started and her voice was no louder than a mice's. Like she was even afraid to talk so not to alarm the boy further.

As if on cue, Mary's face popped up in her mind and Sakura was not sure whether it was because she wanted to overlap her most recent experience with children with that one, but that girl was not afraid of her like her cousin.

And that girl was the purest living souls she has ever seen.

So she tried to find a reasonable explanation with the dog experience.

That one freaked her out and badly.

"I changed perfume recent-

"Leave." Mebuki cut her off, snarling at her daughter like it was a rabid pest she couldn't stand to see. Why was she so angry, Sakura did nothing wrong. "Don't you see you scare him?"

"Mebuki please, she didn't-"

"Don't scold the boy, sister. It is not his fault." Mebuki's tone changed at the speed of light into a soft honey filled one when addressing her sister, then she turned to her still facing the floor daughter. "Sakura has always been unpleasant to everyone. Even with her family." She spat not caring if it tore the beautiful aspiring medic's heart and hurt her feelings. "We are lucky that Sai finds her interesting either way I am afraid she would have _died alone_."

Her aunt found it not right the way Mebuki was speaking about her daughter and she wonder if they had a fight but it was not her place to interfere with other family's private business. But she was sympathetic with the grieving rosette. She looked so bad, that she was probably praying for the floor that she found like the most interesting thing in the world, to open up and swallow her. "Mebuki-"

"You would have wanted that, wouldn't you mom?" Sakura stunned the two women with the stoic, void of emotions and almost...arrogant tone which was not matching with her humiliated and servile posture. Like there was someone else talking in her place. "For me to be unhappy, that is."

"How dare you-"

Then she snapped her head up, making her locks flutter backwards in slow motion and her eyebrows were pressed together. The look she threw to her taken aback mother was pure hatred. "Watch me suffer..." She turns around on her heels and left the room, not able to withstand the think awkward atmosphere or her mother's incredible rude attitude.

_'Alone...I will be alone no more. Because there I have him...'_

Only when she made it to her room, locking the door behind has Sakura let go of the sobs she was holding back. A sudden buzz made her lift her sorrowful washed by tears face from the pillow she was damping coming from her phone. "Sasuke...?" She wished it was him -_he told her he would call sometime that day when he finished with some paperwork_\- that was why she reached for the ringing device gluing it to her ear not eying the ID of the caller.

It was a jolly feminine voice she heard, not the Uchiha's sexy baritone. _"Forehead, you still home?"_

"Ino-"

_"Five minutes. I need matching shoes! Get dressed, if I cut the line, I will make it in three. 'Kay? Bye bye."_ She sang like a banshee and hung up, before Sakura had the chance to protest. She eyed the screen for a whole good minute then jumped off the bed and...smiled.

Ino was able to read her mind just like Sasuke. She always had good timing.

Not wanting to go through another tensed moment, the emerald eyed girl put on her coat and chose to exit on the back door, seeing her mother play with the kid while having tea with her aunt, in the living room and the atmosphere was warm, lovingly and had a cozy family touch. She smiled a sad melancholic smile, thinking about hoe she didn't belong in the scenery and tiptoed outside.

She put on her favorite pair of stilettoes and saw Ino already waiting for her in her sports car, grinning. Due to her word, she managed to terrorize the other drivers and make it earlier.

She got into the convertible, not bothering to appear excited. She didn't have to fake in front of her friends. "That is not a face to display while shopping for shoes, honey."

"Drive."

"Commending aren't we?" The blonde smirked down at her, throwing the car into the first gear. "Something happened? Were you crying?"

"...my cousin hates me." Ino shot her a confused look, while she was driving towards the main street. "My aunt came from Holland. You know Konohamaru."

"Blonde hair, big blue eyes. Adorable!"

"He started to scream and shout and cry for me not to touch him, keeping on saying that he doesn't recognize me."

"Ihhh...nasty."

"Yeah...mom humiliated me..." It was visible in her quivery voice that she was fighting back a fresh round of tears. "...like always."

"I am sorry dear." The blonde stopped the car on the side way, stepping abruptly on the brake. "Come here." She pulled her friend into s warm embrace which Sakura reciprocated. "It is all right, princess, Ino is here." She rubs her back in a soothing manner.

Ino was among of the few people who knew how bad her relationship with Mebuki was and how bad was her mother humiliated her daughter. And she felt bad for Sakura because the pinkette was suffering and hurting s lot. "Everything will be ok. You can sleepover. I have ice cream. And we can both watch that stupid thriller movie which freaks me out that you like."

"...I love you Ino." She muffles her sobs burying her teary eyes on her friends shoulder.

"I love you too dear."

"Let's go." She brushed her still falling tears with the back of her hand and opened her purse to look for mascara and concealer to refresh her make up. "I feel like buying new clothes and...a new **perfume**

"Now that`s some attitude there you have, Forehead. Now hang on. I want to beat my own over the limit speed."

* * *

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V.

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* * *

She was surrounded by a darkness so thick that it was almost piercing her tender skin and when the emptiness in her stomach grew making her queasy and she felt it hard to breathe, while her hair was splashing all over her shoulders and face, covering her emerald orbs, has Sakura realized that she was falling in a bottomless hole. "No..."

The infinite veil of darkness was swallowing her petite frame and even if she had no idea how she popped up in there, Sakura knew she was dragged into a bottomless pitch. And she has panicked, but the dread made her petrified, as she was unable to help herself out of the situation.

That until she trashed violently and managed to escape, but she felt like burning, somehow landing straight in the middle of boiling lava and faces and shades of people with masks. "Hot...gotta...run..."

"Help..." She run at the sight of the big sharp horns decorating their foreheads and somehow they seem bigger and laughing, while she found herself crushed on the hard surface -_it appeared that it wasn't endless after all_\- but felt no pain. Only the soft golden particles of sand floating around her as she found herself spread over the ground, lying on her tummy with her hands prompted on her sides out of defense reflexes. There was nothing around her, but it was not like she could have seen much since there was no source of light.

Something slick a warm was enfolding around her slim ankles; a familiar choir of hisses reaching up her ears and a cold discharged froze her spine in dread when she realized that she had snakes circling around her legs and arms. "No! Let go!" She shouted out to no one in particular. Suddenly the landscape around her changed and there was a sea of hissing big snakes slither at her feet.

Physically, they were not attacking her, only escalading her, enough to make her scream in fear at the top of her lungs. She started to hyperventilate, as the rises and falls were erratic and fastened and she realized that it was all because of a silvery small **crucifix **she used to wear on her necklace every day that it unexplainable started to _burn_ the sensitive skin above her heart. "Help! Someone!"

The horrified emerald eyed woman realized that she was missing her _body_ and she was a dainty spirit, as easy as a smoke floating over the ground, perceiving everything as an outer body experience; like her soul detached from its carcass and it was the most horrible experience.

Then out of nowhere, despite the fact that she couldn't see faces appearing around, but there were daring hands gripping her from all over and they dragged her down sinking her into melting lava...?

When did the dusty ground slipped from under her bare cold feet and was replaced by lava? Unexplainably, Sakura was not aware of any pain or even the heat, but the alien hands keeping her trapped in their grips, pulling at her fluttering clothes and untied rosy hair were still there.

She became claustrophobic, because she couldn't escape them, while the heat rising around from the steaming boiling pool kept on suffocating her. "Aaahhh!" She trashed her body violently to no use; there was a sense of dear for what was about to come and she knew she had to find her way out of that place either way she would die.

Flames burst out of the split in half ground, flaming maniacally like Chinese ancient dragons spitting fire from between their clenched sharp fangs, making it seem like a decadent circus stage. She was still freezing -cold, cold, cold always so_ cold_\- and they were tearing the snow white long chiffon dress, which molded over her curvy shapes like second skin.

Faces...endless _faces_, covered with sinister carnival** masked**, portraying wild animals and mythological figures, concealing their conceited guffaws and snorting nostrils. And they were all cast on her helpless fragile soul, shooting her down with their bad omen. She was going deaf from her own shriek. "Help...somebody...help...me...!"

She then came to hear the most a sinister laughter evil, while the amusement of the masked strangers turned into howls and wails of agony, mirrored into their going desperate masks; instead of their curled up lips, they turned into silent screams and she was once again free of their grasp.

She tripped on her own feet feeling dry of life and energy. Something flickered at the corner of her eyes and Sakura followed the blurred shadow wriggling from behind the folds of velvet traces of the rising smoke surrounding her suddenly. An uneven silhouette approached her and she followed it cutting the distance between them; the contour started to fill in, while darkness around seemed to fade away into the blazing flames, but they turned from dangerous and ominous to pleasant and warm.

She was faxed with the delineation of a befogged figure of_ someone _she thought she recognized, but couldn't see the face -_her vision was half muddy but she didn't know why_. "H-Hello?" She stammered while her feet seemed to have grown a conscience of their own, carrying her slowly towards the strange person camouflaged behind a shadow.

Sakura couldn't explain how but she knew it was a _man_. A man who was expecting her and she had to reach him. She could feel the staggering power scattering from his body, yet she wasn't feeling threatened by it, unlike the petrified crowd around.

Somehow everything else faded away, blending or vanishing into the background and she was left alone with...

"Oh?" Coming from nowhere, sneaking behind her as she hasn't noticed it, someone has gripped her wrist and stopped the jadeite eyed woman from walking. She came to a stop, looking behind her, when she was graced with a tender soothing warm voice, whispering to her. "Don't child." Fine eyebrows shot up in surprise when she came face to face to a stunning middle aged beautiful lady she didn't recognize.

But she seemed to know her.

"Who-"

"Stay." Her command became more as a velvet spell bounding smooth caress and she felt the urge to obey the stranger. "Stay with _us_."

Why was she talking at plural? Were there more people? Was she talking about the ones with the mask? Sakura was not sure what she meant with that, but...

"But-" Nonetheless, there was an even call oozing from the shadowed person and equally pulled her towards him as she turned to face the shadow and she observed that the contours were getting clearer as more details were unveiled before her confused eyes. She distinguished _raven _hair and distinctive spikes standing up, like rebel locks of a wild dark horse.

And he actually had his _left_ hand raised in her direction, expecting her to come and grab it.

An electrical discharge rushed down her feet as Sakura was attracted to the tempting hand like a magnet.

"Not yet." She felt an agonizing sharp pain in her chest while the woman started to drags her along in the opposite direction. When her body fought to regain balance she turned around to protest and witnessed how, just like magic, the once stunning unblemished features of the woman melted into deep wrinkles and her marble soft skin tainted a darker shade, filled with warts and moles, as an old hag took the place of the young woman and she recognizes her to be no other than the creepy beggar who kept on stalking her.

_Koharu._

"You!" She hauled her hand away of her grip, taking two steps back away from her. The woman scared the heck out of her. "...why are _you _here?"

"We are _almost_ there, child." The elder replied evenly, but her attempt to reach the pink haired scared lamb has been cut off by something more appealing.

"Sakura."

_That voice..._

She recognized that voice! The supreme richness of pampering cashmere rivaling the delicious vibrating of his low baritone has awaken her inner from its slumber and made her heart skip a beat.

At the same time, Koharu reached for her hand once again, leading her towards a dim light she could see in front of her. "No, but-" She whipped her head over her shoulder, but found herself allowing the odd messy woman to guide her.

She had no idea of why, but she had the imperious need to follow her; like she shouldn't be there to begin with.

"Almost there..." The woman's soft tune became more serene as they saw the small blazing dot growing bigger and larger like the end of a tunnel.

When she was about to step towards the **light **and let it overwhelm her, Sakura did something unexpected. "Noooo!" She tore her hand away from Koharu's and run away from her _-from the light_\- back into the limbs of twilight, to the still awaiting hand of the stranger concealed in a blur.

An irresistible force which she couldn't fight with, enveloped her thumping heart like a lasso, pulling her towards it. But she tripped on a rock that appeared her way and fell on her knees. As a result, she wasn't able to reach the shadow, even if she raised her own hand in his direction and it was in that moment when the silhouette of the man became crystal clear , her lips shouted before her mind had the chance to process what was happening. "Sasuke!"

_Don't late me go!_

_Why can't I hold your hand when I feel you within my reach?_

_So close to my heart yet_

_So far out of my grasp._

Someone was squeezing her shoulders frenetically and her eyes shot open as her body tensed and became alert.

There were two things that Sakura registered when she woke up with a violent convulsion of her body and they were the fact that she had one of the most vivid horrible nightmares of her life and she woke up inhaling sharply, crying her poor eyes out, like she has never stopped from the moment she was born.

"Sakura!" Ino, her blonde haired best friend was hovering above her shaking frame and worry was written inside her baby blue eyes. "Wake up already!"

"...Ino?!" Her head was throbbing like millions of eardrums kept on pounding down her eardrums and her emerald eyes were unfocused like she was still confused about her whereabouts, but she as awake. ",Ino! Ino!" She grabbed Ino's hands that were still firmly planted down her bony shoulders, making the blonde came to a halt. "Ino!"

"You had a nightmare." Said cerulean eyed friend let go of her, allowing the green garnet eyed woman space to pull herself together, rolling over to the edge of bed and slipping her feet into her slippers, aiming for a glass of cold water. She came back thirty seconds later handing it to her friend who was trying to regulate her breath. "Here. Drink."

"...fuck." Sakura took a generous gulp feeling her throat dry and sore but she knew that the invigorating liquid will cool her down. She was damp in sweat and her whole body burned like a flicker of a torch, yet the worst was her chest. "Thanks." She muttered softly to Ino, who placed the glass beside her. She just stared at the pink haired woman patiently waiting for her to talk. "Sorry I woke you up. What time is it?"

"**2.59**." Her sisterly instincts told Into that her friend needed to feel warm comforting hands around her shoulders in assurance so she did just that. Sakura leaned let her head rest on her friend's shoulder. "It is all right. Don`t worry."

"I keep on having this dreams...nightmares...at exactly _this_ hour..." She put her hand on her chest, pressing her fingertips above her heart, feeling the contour of her pendant; God always soothed her ,except for that time. "Auch!" She squeezed her emerald eyes shut tight. The contact pinched and stung her soft skin.

"What? Are you in pain? Where? There?" Ino immediately went alert. Why was her friend accusing chest pains? She quickly pulled her night gown down her shoulders to have a look. Her eyes went wide as plates. There was a nasty red and purple burn mark right under the crucifix she wore. "What the... "

Letting out a prolonged roar of pain, Sakura fisted her right hand around the sanctified holy jewelry representing the God's sacrifice for the human kind, and tears it away off her neck, and threw it behind her stunned golden haired friend, knocking it on the wall.

Since an eerie unaffordable silence was cast among the two women the dainty object hit the floor with a high pitched thud, as her broken necklace slipped from her neck." Ah!" She put a hand where it once was and her breaths were hectic and forced.

"..wha...what is this?!" She bowed her head to see the burn mark for herself while her jadeite orbs filled with apprehension.

"Oh my God, Sakura!" Ino too had her gaze set on the vivid hurt skin and she traced the outline of the sign, aware not have a direct contact. "Shit! It must hurt like Hell."

"What is this?! Ino what happened?"

"I...don't know. I was downstairs having a snack when I heard you crying in help, so I rushed in here and found you all sweating and trashing like you were possessed by...evil! Fuck...I am sorry!" Seeing how her friend was nurturing all the negative emotions a living soul could encompass in the short span of a lifetime, Ino felt bad. Not knowing how to help she pulled her friend into a bear hug . "Forgive this stupid friend of yours." Her tone was all apologetic.

"I am scared. S-Someone wants t-to take me away!" Instead of rushing to the bathroom where Ino kept her first aid kit and tend her unusual peculiar wound -like any medic would do- she let her sobs come out more violent and started to shake uncontrollably. "Ino!"

"Shhh, it is all right. No one will harm you while I am here, I promise. Pinky promise." The equally frightened and puzzled friend rocked her back and forth patting her back. What could she have done? Who should she call for help? Her mother? Her aunt? Her fiancé? Naruto?

Sasuke-

"Y-You don't understand!" She shouted detaching her body from a confused friend, gripping her wrists like she was trying to hold on her sanity, her puffy bloodshot shimmering emerald orbs boring into her azure ones. Outside the chamber of horror, grey clouds were lingering on the grey sky, producing a heavy rain that was consuming the matter, washing the bare void of leaves ranches of the trees. "Someone w-wants to r-rip off my soul!"

"Sakura..."

"...**this**..." Said rosette pointed her fi her in the direction of the crucifix tossed on the carpet. A blinding bolt of lightning reflected into the smooth metallic surface making the pendant shimmer in a sinister way for as long as a blink of an eye."...is no longer something I can recognize." Whatever she meant with that Ino had no idea, but she hadn't been granted the chance to justify Sakura's eerie words because she slipped out from the bed and dragged her legs towards the adjacent bathroom. "Ointment."

"Y-Yes. Hold on a second. I will ask mom. Don't move, I will be back in a second." Ino sprinted out of the poor lighted room to bring her friend what she has requested and id it was more like out of fear than commitment she didn't know.

Sakura, her best friend, had a nightmare which made her trash like she was in the most torturous agony, only in movies of the Evil sprouting his seeds among the living could be seen and a crucifix that burned her skin like she has **been**\- she shook her head shoving off the outrageous thoughts, entering her sleeping mother's room, waking her up.

-**damned.**

She watched her disheveled grim reflexion in the mirror. Hot tiny salty drops of sweat were rolling down her damp hair and temples. Her emerald orbs were darkened and she had deep purple bags tainting the soft skin under her eyelashes. Her usually rosy cheeks were crimson red like she has been hit by a sunstroke. In a nutshell, she looked like utter shit. "Who can this person be?" She let her trembling small palm pressed on the cool surface of the crystal glass, sliding it down, imprinting the contour of her fingers on it as it has fogged because of the rising hot stream of the running faucet.

She let her jade tired irises fall upon her uncovered rising chest eying the red angry burn mark, in the perfect shape of the crucifix she wore. The stinging was unbearable and her superficial layer of once pearl skin peeled and turned purple bruised.

That was _no_ ordinary crucifix. It was a dear precious gift from her deceased grandmother and it has been sanctified by a priest in Jerusalem.

In another words, it has touched a _holly land_.

"Fuck..." she had no idea how she should explain that to her friends -Naruto would freak out because the blonde knucklehead believed in ghosts, demons and shit and he peed his pants in front of a horror by Stephen King- or Sasuke himself. They will think she went _nuts_.

Maybe she was starting to lose her judgment since all the odd things happened to her recently.

Strange old hag who kept on popping out of nowhere when she last expecting her.

The dog which has mistaken her scent.

Mary the orphan who died a day prior of their talk.

The kids' play which left her unconscious.

The list went on.

And that thought alone made her reconsider and she decided not to call her midnight haired secret lover, even if her fingers were itching to press on the _'call'_ key before his name. She had to rely on Ino.

* * *

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VI.

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* * *

"I am going to leave him on our wedding day." Sakura started casually, while she elegantly rook a sip of her strong rich vanilla flavored black tea; a good fresh healthy morning start, served inside her favorite fancy French tearoom.

Her sweet soft tone was void of regret or remorse and she left her blonde haired interlocutor gasping like a fish drowning in salty waters. "W-What?! Are you crazy, Sakura? This is serious, you cannot do something so dangerous. Once you put on that dress, there will be no other way for you, but the altar. I hope you do realize this."

"I am afraid you are wrong, my friend. There is always _another_ way…out. Though I don't want to let him think he has won. I want my revenge to be sweet."

"What revenge? Sakura you don't love him! And I know you never did." The stunned Yamanaka leaned forward over the small round white table, pushing her own cup of steaming coffee aside, aware not to spill it and dropped her high pithed banshee strong voice to a whispering level, so that no curious ear would eavesdrop and catch what was mean for no one to know. "The one you want to be with is that drop dead handsome Uchiha."

To prove her point, Ino slipped her hand down Sakura's palm, which was resting on her pink tea cup decorated with pastel flowers and butterflies motifs, brushing her thumb over the precious piece of jewelry, that was so dear to her equally emerald eyed best friend. "If _this_ is not a proof of that, then don't call me Ino the _pig_." She couldn't prevent her baby blue amazed eyes to drown into the sparkle of the precious stone.

Not only was it stealing anyone's breath away with its stunning sparkling beauty and elegance, but it looked insanely expensive, screaming high class, finesse and extravaganza. Something which was far away Sai's reach; a ring that only a man like Sasuke could offer...along with a whole new level of luxurious life. "Is this a veritable _diamond_?"

"Emerald, to be more specific." Sakura hummed dreamy, remembering the night she spent with the owner of the gift, and the way he offered it to her. A symbol of their unbreakable bond; their eternal link. Before leaving to Rio, Sasuke gave her his heart, his body, his world and a lifetime promise.

"MY goodness, Sakura!" The platinum shiny blonde woman's light azure orbs went wide as plates, while she shook her head in disbelief. Sakura still had the power -_stubbornness_\- to keep a man who loved her sincerely and could give her everything she wanted, waiting, indulging into a loveless heartbreaking false engagement, with the most revolting and unmannered ice cub of a fiancé and his arrogant family. "How much is it anyways? It must be at least a million!"

"I didn't ask him." Sakura has longed stopped inquiring the value of Sasuke's _'small'_ gifts. They were all worth more than she could count, but the charming onyx eyed Uchiha have the skill to make her stop feeling bad and inferior for accepting such values. She went silent for a moment ,brushing a lock that had fell over her rosy cheek, over her ear. "He asked me to _marry _him."

She couldn't stop a beam to grace her delicate features, while Sakura found it easy to witness a fairytale picturesque wedding day, if she were to become Sasuke's wife: she would wear a long lace embroidered pure snow white dress, sewed in gold and tiny Swarovski crystals and she would look ethereal; then she would smile at her future husband while he would look deeply into her eyes, while expecting her to make it through the aisle; they will hold hands while exchanging their vows, their hearts and the most tender kiss...

Ino on the other hand, has unceremoniously thrown all her elegant manners on the window and promptly split the gulp of her beverage all over the table and the small daisies and lavender flower arrangement, menu and empty dessert porcelain plates. "No way! And what did you tell/" Her eyes widened upon realizing the crucial significance of what Sakura had revealed.

Yes, she knew that Sasuke has asked Sakura to move with him, live with him and make it official. She also knew they started to meet mote frequently in public, when they expressed their feelings for each other openly, but never has he actually proposed her. "Wait a second…if you have accepted his ring then you must have accept-"

"Don't jump into conclusions, Pig. Things like this are pointless. The way we are now…" She thought about all the things that transpired between them and she realized that they have, in fact, acting like a married couple all the times. "…will suffice, for the time being. He understands."

_/He never judges/_

Ino deadpanned at the easiness in her jadeite eyed friend of hers voice. How could have Sakura spoken about such things in such a nonchalant way was beating her. "So you _refused_ him or what? Because your relationship is too complicated. It makes it hard for me to understand."

"Of course I never tell him _no_. Hell Ino, I _wan_t to be his wife, I swear to God there is nothing more I want in this lifetime, but to spend my whole life with him, but-"

_/There are still some things left in this that keep me from giving myself completely to him/_

"Sai. And your mother." Ino saw the way Sakura`s hold on her half empty cup of tea has tightened and she was nibbling her lower lip like she did whenever she felt exposed, shy and insecure. "Which one of them?"

"Both. My mother is basically…in love with the idea of me marrying Sai. On the other hand, he is a dangerous man. I am afraid of what he is capable of doing to her if I don't follow the plan. I have to stick to it until the very end."

"What ending?"

"Until he cannot hide from anyone…" She was hesitant whenever she was remembered of all the hardships and disgrace that Sai has put her through, furrowing her eyebrows. "…all the miseries he does to me." She licked her lower lip, relishing in the sugary taste of her beverage. "I caught him cheating on me last night, with that whore of a model who poses as a nude. I had no idea that prostitution came in so many forms. And here I thought the world of arts had more class than that." She let out a humorless laughter.

"Are you _serious_?! And…he had the nerve to bring her to…your home?"

"I don't care about what he does, or rather who he does and where. That house will never be a home for me, nor a place to belong. I was just disgusted about the fact that he is not even considering my feelings or reputation and doesn't even have the decency to hide his affair. I mean…you don't see me bringing Sasuke on Sai`s home, right?"

"Wow…I had no idea that he is cheating on you but…I kind of…see it coming, you know? Considering the level of trust between you. You two act like strangers, even though you are engaged. You are engaged, right?"

"Who knows? He only gave me a ring…well I know his mother has bought it for me, because it was too much of a bother for him to find one. He doesn't even care whether I have it or not. I only wear it when there is a family dinner."

"Well, I wouldn't want to wear it either if my other option would be _that _one." She pointed towards Sasuke's ring. Leaving the sentimental part aside, the difference in value was clearly in the Uchiha's favor. "No offence but…you shouldn't hesitate anymore, my friend. A fine gentleman like Sasuke Uchiha is something you will _not_ find anywhere in this world. And I say you have made him wait quite a long time."

"A ring means attachment. Empathy. Affection, trust and commitment. These are certain emotions that I only feel in the presence of Sasuke. Sai doesn't stir any of them. I will never have a place for any golden or silver band around my finger that Sai might give, since it has no deeper meaning." Sakura smiled, while playing with the ring, following the gleam of the diamond, which was mirroring the rare shade of her irises. "It has to make me _feel _something, right?"

Ino watched as Sakura`s eyes got beaming with love, joy and ardor whenever she was reminded of Sasuke. "Leave him." The blonde planted her fist down the table between them, making the objects resting on the lean surface tremble.

She got some stares towards her but she paid them no mind. "Leave him now before it becomes impossible for you to do so. You have nothing to do with Sai. The more you stay in his vicinity, the biggest chances for him to take advantage of you and hurt you are and I don't want to see you running to my home in the middle of the night again, crying and drinking until you cannot walk straight."

"I have already told you Ino, I can't leave him right now. I want to pay him back for all the suffering, either ways I **won't find my rest**. I want him to feel as bad as I had. I want it to haunt his mind and plague his dreams as it ruined mine. To experience the horrid of being disposed of, like garbage."

"I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I don't understand where your fright of him comes from. You have Sasuke by your side and Sai is just a scum under his shoe. He will protect you and your mother, I am sure of it. And what is with all these ideas of revenge coming from? Isn't dumping his ass enough to embarrass him and ruin his reputation? Why going through all that useless drama?!"

If Ino was revolted with her friend's choice for retribution she wasn't hiding it. Like the worst scenario of a soap opera, Sakura's plan could only turn up very bad. She had one hope left and that was Sasuke himself. Sure, Sakura was a hurt young college student who was at the beginning of discovering her womanhood, dreams and path in life, but the rich more experienced Uchiha heir was far more reasonable and level headed, so she reason that he wouldn't be the type to bet on their future and go with Sakura's outrageous plan.

Surely he was guiding her and advised his secret lover against pursuing a hopeless mirage of paying it all back to her abusive fiancé. He couldn't have been that insane; it didn't suit a successfully brilliant corporation owner and businessman like him. They weren't taking any unnecessary risks.

Which only served as a token of how deep his live for her forest green eyed friend was. And since she loved him back, why in the world were they still having this conversation? Ino would have long eloped in the labyrinth of destiny, leaving everything behind and live her life with the man she loved.

But no. Sakura was doing funny business.

"He takes me for granted and his family thinks they are untouchable. They have managed to corrupt my mother into thinking that she is on par with them, when in reality, they treat our family like servants. I can see it in the way she looks at me, like I am a pest that they should get rid of. Sai is even worse. He doesn't acknowledge me in any ways and his arrogance pisses me off. He thinks he is God`s gift for any woman and I want to prove him wrong. I want to show him that no one is untouchable or irreplaceable. Not even him."

"No living is irreplaceable, really? What about Sasuke, then? Ino managed to creep a smirk at the way Sakura's high cheeks have tinted rose.

"He is not just anyone. He is my everything and that is why I will not give him up for anyone."

"You two are so much alike, that it makes me feel that here is much more to your destinies than a mere unexpected random encounter."

"How so?"

"Just as fire…your ways are unpredictable and your passion to fight for your longings are turning everything else into ashes."

"You are too poetic today, Pig. Save those cheesy lines for Shikamaru." The teasing pinkette cocked her head, decoding to let the topic drop for the time being. Truth was, she has found the answer to why was she still pulling back when it came to make her relationship with Sasuke public and it was quite lame: she was **scared**.

She found herself afraid of what the unknown might have had in stock for her. What if it went all wrong? Sasuke has declared his love for her so many times yet she was still hesitating when it came to give up her current life and start anew. If he somehow decided to leave her, she would have nothing to return to. Choosing Sasuke Uchiha over her mother, fiancé and friends was a double edged sword. She would lose everything in exchange for anything and it things turned wrong, then she would be left with nothing. And losing the purpose of her life was as good as being dead.

"Don't you think I have already tried this kind of approach before? Twenty minutes worth of coming up with the most brilliant, poetic, sexy and smart hook up lines and he finds it all _'bothersome'_. I bet he finds that Temari chick interesting." It was breaking her heart to see Ino so down. Baby blue eyes were not matching with the sadness playing inside them as she lowered her gaze facing her empty cup. "He accepted her invitation to the carnival."

"I am sorry to hear, but you know what?" Sakura placed her hand upon her friend's one, giving it a little squeeze. She wished her friend would find a man to cherish her like she deserved. "Maybe he is not the one for you and your Prince is yet to come. You just have to be patient. Look at me. You can never know….when love is going to strike."

Ino let out a deep sigh, ordering another chocolate cake. Such was life. She couldn't stay forever grieving over something she couldn't have. "I know Forehead...but I wish it would appear at my doorsteps and make me head over heels for him."

_Like Sasuke did to you_...were her inner thoughts. She wasn't jealous of her proclaimed sister. But Sakura had no idea how incredibly lucky she was.

Or not?

_/As his intoxicating persona has turned me into a thin layer of smoke and he has breathed the very life from me, as I have entered his system, spreading like hazel over his heart, fusing with his soul, until we have connected like man and woman in the most wonderful and picturesque way, since the beginning of history/_

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* * *

VII.

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* * *

"Yes, I know, but it won`t take long, I promise. When, tomorrow?" If only it wouldn't have been so difficult to lock her car, hold the three shopping bags resting safely beside her on the passenger seat and talk to her friend on the phone, while only being gifted with two hands, Sakura would have not been approaching Sai`s doorsteps like she has been raiding the shops for Christmas present.

Far from her the thoughts of considering that plain boring white painted house her _home _since the emerald eyed rosette rarely spend her time in there. "What? No, of course I am going to accompany you. God only knows with your taste, you might scare him and you will never get the chance to-" Of course she had to be that unlucky to trip on something that felt like a shoe disposed carelessly in the way, the moment Sakura inserted the key into the lock and opened the front glass door, entering the space she dreaded to approach. "Ah, damn!"

She didn't want to be there, as she has loathed the idea of sharing a space with the most detestable character in the entire universe and the forest green lady was positive that Sai was not that content to withstand her presence in his vicinity either. He had another woman to fill that space for her, no problem, so she wouldn't bother him with unwanted attention.

Her sole intention was to grab her toiletries and some clothes and go live in Sasuke`s home for as long as his absence was, since she could barely thwart his absence, always having his scintillating charcoal sensual eyes in mind, coming to caress her soul with the first rays of the morning sun, or being the only welcomed company whenever she went to bed and let the sweet heavenly nectar taste of the sweet dreams embrace her. "No, I am ok. I have just tripped on something. Probably some shoe of his."

There was a dim light coming from the living room and Sakura mentally damned her future joke of a fiancé for his bad timing. From all the moments he could have been home at the same time, it had to be _that_ particular moment. It was not like she owned him any explanation, nor did he have the legitimate right to question her every move, since she owned him no promise of giving her heart and soul to a person that couldn't even look her in the eyes, without sending cold shivers of disgust at the thought of how he really viewed her as a disposable piece of meat, unworthy of standing on the same level of his high society.

"Sai?" What she hasn't failed to realize, as Sakura placed the bags that were preventing her hands to roam freely for the switch from the hall and have a clearer view of the odd situation, was the pungent stench of intoxicating alcohol hitting her nostrils, as she felt a lump rising on her throat from the pits of her queasy feeling stomach. "Are you home?"

He should have better find a more suitable place where petty solitary geniuses of artists like him were mourning and searched for their muses and inspiration into the sole divinity they were worshipping, namely liquor. Feelings of strong abhor and revolt were inside her for all the people that loved to drunk, men especially.

Sai has always been a scurrilous man, with ungracious manners, a vulgar way of trying to make his point clear and a salacious vocabulary to try and appear irresistible in front of the women he would have liked to have on the palm of his dirt hand and that was gross, in Sakura`s opinion. A Sai under the influence of a damned beverage to cloud his already lewd mind, was more audacious than usual, his gestures were uncivilized and bolder and he was more dangerous. Sakura thanked all the Heavens for Sasuke was rarely fancying more than one sip of wine and occasionally whiskey. And she has never seen him other than sober and always in control.

A hoarse guttural low mocking voice has startled the green garnet eyed woman, as her hand flew on her thumping scared heart and the other almost dropped the phone she was holding glued to her left ear. "Trying to sneak inside?" The dark eyed man she has dreaded to see was displaying a macabre decadent image of an alcoholic, laying his body on the large sofa, in a totally uncivilized way, resting his crossed feet on the coffee table, as his arms were spread over the head rest, fixing her with a revolted and expecting ominous look in his dark grapes orbs. "Got a big _secret_ that you are trying to hide?"

"I will call you back in a minute, ok?" Usually, Sakura wouldn't have minded Sai`s disturbing caprices when he got drunk, being well aware of how terrible he could be when he was under the influence of alcohol, but somehow there was a disturbing threat lingering into his last mocking threat that she didn't like, so she decided to not involve Ino as well.

The moment she hung up on her blonde haired friend, Sai rose his half naked frame from the sofa he was occupying, and, still holding his half empty glass of scotch in between his clumsy fingers, approached his soon to be bride, with a predatory glint in his intoxicated orbs. The rosette barely managed to take off her high heels, prompting a hand on the door frame, when her dark haired fiancé came to stand right in front of her. "What do _you _want, Sai? I am tired."

Her surviving instincts told her to not stay too much in his vicinity and find shelter and protection inside her chamber, where she could have eventually lock the door, until the morning. She has done it before when living with him became oppressive. "Where have you been?" He asked simply, much to Sakura`s indignation.

"Why do you care?" She bit back using the same acrid tone as her commending fiancé, heading towards the kitchen, in search for a glass of straight cold water, not quite in the disposition to deal with his caprice. Inwardly, she felt a sudden discharge of panic, when she briefly fancied the idea of Sai finding out about her affair with the handsome Uchiha. "You are not my husband or something."

"I am not your husband…_yet_." His feedback came as a tornado, hitting Sakura`s already fragile state of mind, when she more than spun on her heels to face his arrogant and possessive drunk attitude, well aware that she shouldn't play with fire, but it was not like she could have withstand his bashing any longer.

"Let`s make it clear." She has started, emphasizing each syllable, spitting the rejection straight into his face. Sai was unfaltering and his incomprehensible stern figure was only fueling the fuchsia haired beauty`s pique. Never one has Sakura taken into account the possibility of her getting united to Sai, in such a holly way, standing beside him until the end of her days, as his wife. Never.

If someone was to walk hand in hand, right beside her, loving her and having her unconditional loyalty, was Uchiha Sasuke, and only him. "I…will never belong to _you_…" Her verdant lucid eyes looked straight into his jet ink unfathomable eyes, marveling at how depleted of any emotion and forsaken his wandering soul could have been, on the opposition of how stalwart Sasuke`s feelings and complex dominant character could have been. A man like that would never be able to make her accomplished as a woman. She would never find real emotion and happiness beside him. "Never."

"Is that so? If I hadn't known better, I would stay you have _an affair_."

"I think that you are hardly the one to talk, Sai." She couldn't believe that man's guts to bring up such topic since he was not having the decency to be discreet and keep a low profile instead of flashing his slut knew every room of their supposed home-yes, she has run into them going at it like dogs on heat in the Jacuzzi. "I am having so much fun thinking about how you meet in dark corners, like rats."

His pitch black round eyes went wide as saucers and he looked taken aback, while the emerald eyed lady crossed her arms in front of her chest smirking at him arrogantly and victoriously. Did he really think of her like a naive oblivious fool? Big mistake. "How did you-?"

"-Know? You should have at least shut the damn door. It made me lose appetite." She took one step towards her stunned fiancé and it was then when she was able to see how much alcohol has he introduced into his intoxicated body. He was reeking of strong beverages from miles away. "But then again, it helped me find something very interesting." Cocky defying viridian irises gave the man before her a scrutinizing look from head to toes, while her mouth wasn't getting the clear message of her brain -don't provoke a drunk dangerous man like that if you want to stay safe. "You are not even half the man you think you are, aren't you?"

In one swift motion that come at the speed of lightening he was up to his feet, while his contorted face and deep scowl was enough to let Sakura know how deeply insulted he felt when she mocked his manhood, yet she hasn't flinched or budged an inch. His reflexes were unusually sharp for a drunk person. "Careful with that pretty mouth of yours Sakura, before I might feel obliged to prove it to you how much of a man can I be. Hm?"

His tone dropped to a darker and more perilous than his usual impassive one and when he grabbed one of the words, she knew she has crossed the line. "Get your filthy hands off me you pathetic excuse of a human being!" The emerald eyed unwilling bride used her available hand to try and shove him away, with no success.

"Neh Neh, I am afraid this is not the way you should talk to your future _husband_. Because like it or not, you _will_ belong to me Sakura and _no one_ will be able to rescue you." It was in the moment he took a hold of the hand she kept on pushing down his chest has panic started to form inside her throat. "You…are going to be….forever mine!"

"I refuse to be a trophy in your collection! Someone like you shouldn't ever be considered a gentleman! A real Sir, will never treat his future bride like a possession!" Sakura was aware that she was screaming in her face but somehow she couldn't stop. Her fights with Sai always ended up very bad but once stirred, she had to let all the hate she nourished for him bloom. "You only love yourself! You will never be able to love someone else and you will never be able to make me feel something for you, besides disgust!"

Somewhere in the deepest confinements of her mind, there was a dainty regret that she felt at the idea of her not being able to have a peaceful relationship with her supposed to be groom or at least a decent conversation. Life it could have been much more easier if Sai would love her and would have had real intentions to marry her.

Bur then again, if he was honest and committed ,she would have never met Sasuke...

Life was full of impossible choices.

"You can keep those insults for yourself, babe..." Usually Sai would snap at the rude disregarding tone of his fiancé, but her fierceness in that moment was turning him on and he reacted accordingly. "If I am to think it over…I feel that you are not even worth the price. You are quite lacking…_assets_." He scrutinized her and smirked when shock has washed over her face. Then she turned from offended to fierce. "No straight or sane man would be committed to someone as…pathetic." He kept on pushing on her buttons, while she unconsciously leaned towards him, somehow deluding herself into thinking that she appeared unfazed, strong and...punch him maybe?

He had a strong iron grip of her hands, while their chests clashed into each other. Contrary to what she thought of him, Sai was a man. A young healthy man whose hormones reacted to the opposite sex, especially when she was a beauty and he would admit it. Sakura was in fact, very hot. As a woman, she turned heads and made men's pants tighten when she swung her body like a siren. And those long creamy legs in those twelve inch high heels were long, long...

"You are a monster…a pig like you will only be able to cherish common prostitutes, to match your cheap characte-" She didn't have the chance to voice out the rest of her insult because next thing she knew, Sai's poisoned lips crashed on her mouth, forcefully tying to kiss her.

"Mmmnnn..." She tried to remove her mouth from his, but the bastard managed to slip his disgusting tongue down her throat, when she gaped at his unexpected action, taken by surprise. Big mistake. She has underestimated him.

Her lungs were burning from the lack of oxygen since she was squirming and trashing her body, trying to free herself from his clutch and there was a bigger disgusting taste on her mouth, because Sakura was able to feel every strong beverage he had imprinted on his bruising harsh lips and to tongue while he was exploring her mouth, like it was his personal property.

When he pulled back, his mouth went on her neck, biting down the sensitive soft milky skin along her pulse, until the familiar salty copper taste of blood spilled on his canines and she cried in pain."Ahh! Noo! Let...me go, you damned brute!" He continued to suck the reddened spot, moving up to leave sloppy kisses along her jaw line and chin.

"Fuck, you are one feisty bitch, aren't you?" He threw in her face, while he bent and twisted her hands in a painful uncomfortable position, successfully making her whimper and stop trying to pry him away off her.

"Go away! You don't want to do this!" Her glistening forest green eyes started to fill with burning tears while she was fighting back the need to puke. His touch was burning her like toxic acid spilled on her skin.

"Oh, but I _want_ to do this, in fact..." He pinned her down to the sofa, collapsing over her, nearly crushing her much fragile body. A pair of bathed in strong Gin lips glued to her ear whispering words that left her numb. "...it might be able to _satisfy_ me...until something better shows up." And planted a hard kiss on her nape when she turned her head on her side attempting to cease away his libidinous innuendo from both her body and mind.

She couldn't believe his guts to admit he was waiting for that purple haired fake nude model whore to come in their home. And definitely she hasn't missed the way he referred to her as a plaything. "Stop this! Get...the fucking...OFF!" In vain she tried to knee him in his abdomen. He had her trapped with his body pressing her down into the soft plush cushion.

"Na-ah..." He slurred while he used one hand to bring both her limbs above her head, holding her wrists in a painful bruising grip, while his available fingers were working on the cloths that concealed her upper body from his hungry lustful gaze. "...who knows you might as well enjoy it...while you get it from a real man..._darling_." He dropped the appellative in a way that made Sakura's insides clench in disgust.

"I HATE Y-" She trashed and tossed to no avail, prying for some miracle to happen and make him free her but he was quick in tearing the silk fine shirt she wore leaving her in a pastel blue lace bra. Then he silenced her with another full mouth kiss, while his hand groped her full breast under her lingerie, squeezing her and pinching her nipple.

Tears were rolling down her cheek, and she coughed unable to breathe, suffocating. His touch was nothing like Sasuke's; his were very painful and unwelcomed. She freaked out when she thought back to how he screwed his model and he was animalistic. Would he do that to her as well?

He did it twice before but he wasn't that drunk, fucked up and stirred so it ended up pretty quick, but it still hurt like _Hell_. "Hate me? I thought you _loved _me…" His tone was fake hurt when he unglued his lips from her own but kept a close distance, with the tip of his nose poking her cheek. "...or my money...since you are a poor bimbo."

He pointed out to the expensive clothes and jewelry she wore, as well as her sports car. She wanted to laugh and rub it in his ugly smirking face that she would not touch a single penny from his damned money and it was all from Sasuke, but she knew it would do her no good. Did he really think that she was spending _his_ money? "I am not your slut, you motherfucking alcoholic rapist." She would have felt deeply insulted if Sai would have meant anything to her which he didn't at the way he made it sound like she was using his money in exchange for having sex with him like an ordinary prostitute.

"I would fucking pay you back for those insults of yours Sakura..." Sai sneered at his crying and shouting fiancé; unconsciously her squirming under him made her pelvis grind on his hardened bulge, turning him on badly. "...but you have more to _offer _and I have many things to take from you."

"Fuck off me! You have no right to touch me like this!" _No one beside him._ But he only laughed at her moistened shut tight orbs and the despair reflecting in her gestures. In one swift motion, Sai pulled down the navy blue jeans he wore, tossing it on the carpet, remaining in his boxers and he didn't bother to fully undress her -_for the moment_\- being content with only pulling the middle length tight velvet green skirt she wore up to her waist.

He leaned in and placed a kiss on the front of her black lace Victoria Secret G-string, inhaling the fresh water lilies scent of her lingerie and womanhood. Her soft slim body was very appealing; Sai wouldn't deny her fair share of beauty. Sakura was a beautiful woman. "Sweet like honey." And she was his fiancé. He took the chance and grounded his hips on her own, rolling and grinding his protruding poking from the opening of his underwear member on her half exposed core.

When she felt the skin on skin contact, Sakura's chest burned and she got a bitter metallic taste in her mouth. She couldn't believe he was going to do that to her...again! "NO! Don't you dare! Leave me alone, Sai! Leave me or I'll-"

"Enough!" He growled menacingly, boring his jet black eyes into her widened jadeite ones and she stiffened when something hard as steel penetrated her dry and unprepared core, as he thrust inside her, forcing his way inside in one swing of his hips. "Ahhh!" She cried out when pure pain has shot through her. "There are more interesting things we can do, don't you agree, Sakura?"

Sai shut his eyes briefly, as she did the same; one couldn't stop from trembling and spilling burning tears in agony, while the other's orbs were spinning in their sockets in pleasure. "Fuck you are...fucking tight!" The dark haired artist clenched his teeth feeling like coming right there and then when his fiancé's burning inner walls clenched around his erect member, trapping him inside her body in a vice grip.

He could see and feel -_and knew_\- that she was not in the bit aroused and lubricated and that was making it harder for him to ram inside her like he desired, since she was constricting her muscles to try and force him outside, trying to block his way into her passage, but it was pointless.

"NOO DON'T...STOP!" The pain was even worse than she reminded and the burning and stinging sensation grew unbearable. Even if she was reduced to the primal needs of a female, her body had no reaction towards him, beside incredible disgust. Not a single one she didn't want to do that with him; she would rather fuck a random dude in a club and have a one night stand with any stranger she found on the streets, than have sex with Sai.

Not if he was the last...person -_he was no man_\- standing.

"Stay fucking still!" He snarled while a wicked gleam in his black olive small orbs shot to his bottle glass table and he grabbed the first bottle of alcohol he could grab -_still staying firmly planted inside her_\- and took a large gulp. "Now scream like the bitch you are."

And pulled back from her, going all the way up, once...twice...thrice...starting to fuck her merciless, hammering into her. His tempo fastened, while he took occasional gulps of his strong beverage. He felt the muscles in his lower abdomen clench. She felt incredibly awesome and the new dosage of alcohol was making his mind more relaxed and turned him on even more.

He even felt himself growing inside her each time he pumped her. "Like this?" He mocked while she resumed to silently cry, when she realized that she couldn't break free until he was finished violating her, so for her own good, she should try and bear with the intrusion.

She tried to relax as best as she could hoping that the pain and the incredible burning of her inner passage and core would subside; it did when his engorged member dipped of pre-cum and his slick juices; still not enough to turn pain into pleasure, but enough to reduce it to a bearable level of pain. "Y-You will pay for this...you are going to...fucking pay, Sai..."

She turned her head on her left side, not wanting to see his victorious face. There was a red Italian Crystal vase with a stunning bouquet of white **magnolias** -_her favorite flowers_\- decorated with venetian motifs, carnival masks miniatures, small high bridges and gondola, a gift from her grandmother, which she fixed her stare on.

She prayed for old good memories to come and cease away the mental suffering. One that didn't seem to leave her soul; it haunted her dreams and it has been her sole merciless companion, witnessing all the hardships and she felt she couldn't take it anymore. She got to going something to cling on.

_Sasuke_

She was deeply ashamed to think of his face when she was in that position; legs spread wide, having another man in between them, whose manhood was firmly thrusting inside her, relentlessly, claiming her core and it hurt. Bad. Both spiritually and physically. She was so ashamed with her inability to fight him back and it burned her mind.

"How about..." Sai had enough with her empty threats. What was the point in threatening someone if she didn't have what it took to back her words up?

Or so he thought she didn't have the resources to take back at him.

Instead, he gripped her chin, pressing his thumb on her lower moist lip, forcing her head up to face him. She was quick to react when she realized that he was not holding her hands anymore, but he was not that dumb. Somehow he managed to tie her up with the belt of his jeans. When he did that, she had no idea. "...you join my fun? Hm?"

And did something she didn't expect. He kept her mouth opened and brought the bottle of Tequila he was drinking from to her lips, and maneuvered it, while keeping her chin lifted, forcing the alcohol filled liquid down her throat and she chocked on it but he didn't stop.

Something tiny at the back of his intoxicated mind knocked at the doors of his reason and humanity and whispered at him to let her go because hat he did to her was not right but since when did he care about how she felt?

Exactly. Never.

Sakura felt like all her chest and throat would burst into flames and she swore she was crying with bloody crocodile tears. Even if she knew that what Sai had was pure agave since he had the money to afford expensive drinks, she couldn't touch that thing without lime and salt as bitterness overwhelmed her.

She wasn't an avid fan of alcohol either; she only had occasional shots with Ino or Sasuke but neither forced it on her like that -_Ino spiking the punch every time didn't count because she was the first to get shitfaced_\- and she was amazed she hasn't fainted yet.

She coughed several times after Sai removed the bottle from her mouth, trying to catch her breath. The pain in her lower regions has been forgotten briefly as she fought for oxygen. "S-Sto-" No words would come from her sore throat anymore. She felt her eyes budged from their holes when she realized that the imbecile has made her have a quarter of that bottle.

Meaning she would get drunk.

She was not supposed to get drunk around him, Sai was dangerous and she didn't trust him!

Unfortunately for her, he didn't stop. When he did that again she forced back her head, spiting the sip of the beverage she was supposed to drink, but he wouldn't back up. "Smart, are we?" Sai took a generous gulp of Tequila and brought his head close to her, lying atop her body, slowing down his pace a bit so he could still aim to her pussy, pumping her, and crushed his lips on her own, filling up her mouth with the drink she refused to taste by herself and that time she couldn't empty it anywhere else but down her throat.

"Mmmnnf..." He even pushed his tongue as far as he could reach down her mouth poisoning her with his venin and alcohol. And his taste felt so bad; so wrong. Was life trying to send her a sign that she should make a damn right choice since everything he did was a striking comparison to how Sasuke treated her?

She didn't want to be kissed by Sai. A kiss meant intimacy; a level of emotion which wasn't connecting the two of them. It was supposed to make her insides flutter with feelings of love, honesty, trust and joy. And she only had that with Sasuke. Her supposed fiancé was not allowed to take that tenderness away from her, using her like that.

He was feeding her his filthy spiked liquid of decay with his own freaking mouth! It was disgusting, there was bile rising down her throat and she was unable to throw up. She wanted to empty her body from his dirt, smell and...she felt her eyes sting with unshed tears.

There was warm liquid leaking down her thigh and knees and she recognized it to be his sperm spilling inside her womb, surging from her opening. "Fucking Hell!" He shouted when he exploded into her body. Instead of reaching his peak with her name plastered on his lips, he chose the cursed name of the Devil's realm to express his release.

She realized that he didn't care whether it was her vagina the one he emptied himself into, or another, as long as he could shove his dick inside and hump her like a stray dog. For a moment...for a damn long blink of an eye which felt an eternity, her stare lingered to the bottles discarded and rolling on the table beside them.

For a moment...she entertained the idea to grab one and hit his head with it and take his damned life, along with her tainted sinful soul and discard them at the gates of _Hell_. At the _Gates of Retribution_ she would be the first to cross since his transgressions were far worse than hers.

For a moment...from many others...she wanted so much to _murder_ him!

Her body was jerking involuntary whenever he was moving inside her, but her mind started to shut down and she found it hard to focus. "Not so vocal anymore are we, Sakura?" He whispered darkly down her ear while he would occasionally help himself from the bottle repeating the action of getting her drunk as well.

"G-Go to H-Hell..." She stammered realizing that she...was drunk as hell as well. That cursed rapist of her fiancé has managed to get her so drunk that she couldn't feel pain anymore. She let her eyelids lower as she shut her eyes. Her cries turned into broken moans. Alcohol was taking effect, as her body mistook a wrong action for pleasure and reacted accordingly. She was starting to moisten down there and Sai felt it too.

"Gladly. But I am taking you with me..._angel_." _Those words_...he removed his flush member from her hot trembling cavern and she as thankful for having that tension removed from the pits of her lower abdomen, but it lasted for only a second.

The next thing she knew, Sai had both his hands under her back, rolling her over, with her back on him, face down the sofa, both limbs thrown over her head. She has never been more exposed than that and more defenseless in front of him.

_Those words..._

He dug his nails down her hips, lifting her up so her back was deeply arched and her ass was hanging high towards him. He gave her a hard slap that made her wince and, without any other further notice he inserted his half erect shaft back into her pussy. Since he wasn't hard enough to pierce her, he had to force himself in her tight vagina, until she swallowed him all, then he started to screw her hard, pounding faster and faster until she felt him hard as steel, spreading her wide, tearing her insides in half.

"Nnnooo...ennough..." She gripped the edge of a pillow she could rich with her weak fingers, while she muffled her sobs, burying her face into the sofa. Because of the alcohol she wasn't feeling the pain, only the familiar convulsions of her inner walls and muscles. "Pplesse...no more..."

_Those words..._

He wouldn't' hear her imploring and even if he did, Sai wouldn't care. She didn't remember him having so much stamina, but sure enough she knew that his length was past average. Not as gifted as another man who claimed her womanhood -_not even close_\- but enough to have almost any woman gladly spread her legs before him.

_My angel..._

She felt another round of tears coming to hit her nostrils and blood shot emerald eyes and that time they spoke the deepest sadness of her real emotions.

_I love you._

_His_ words...those words that only one man would whisper when he made sweet passionate love to her like no other; those words she wished to hear, instead of lines meant for the cheapest brothel companion.

_Uchiha Sasuke._

She rubbed the fourth finger of her left hand out of her left hand wanting to feel his ring, but she remembered that she wasn't wearing it when she was in Sai's presence. If the dumb painter wasn't paying much attention to her belongings, he sure as hell wouldn't overlook a jewelry that was probably more expensive than his home!

He used to call her his angel all the time, but it was completely other story.

Before the drink she has been forced to indulge into took its full effect, Sakura vaguely felt that he started to pound into her ass as well, alternating his thrusts inside her core. She has never felt so tainted, so dirty, so much like a whore and so abused. He was pushing himself into her from every way he could.

Her mind went hazy

The pain has subsided

Her soul on the other hand...

Was in agony.

Sai's grunts and curses faded somewhere in the background and they slipped past her ears with no effect.

_Somebody please…_

He came into her pussy once, filling her with his semen.

_Help me!_

He came again while hammering into her tight bruised small ass opening, emptying himself all over her butt cheeks; the ones he would slap occasionally, until her porcelain sensitive skin reddened in the form of his imprinted palm...

Words that were mean to remain on the hands of eternal...**silence...**

* * *

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* * *

_When the simplest of gestures leave the deepest of scars, no other tender words can mend the broken unfortunate heart and make the spirit a whole again and accordingly Sakura has never once felt mote of a stranger into the protective nest of her own family. And she has seen all the ...into the innocent eyes of her frightened little boy cousin, like a damnation for all the things she was not able to give or the person she couldn't have become. The prospect of becoming dust and forgotten has never been so merciless playing within the confinements of her deepest insecurities._

_It was lucidity's voice which was striving to be heard and Sakura started to perceive it clearer and louder than before. She had never felt more of a stranger to her own world. Not only everything seemed go wrong into her life, but she started to not find her place into the world all of a sudden. Not only the others were rejecting and blamed her for things she hasn't even done, but she couldn't recognize herself in their descriptions. Like her name on their lips was associated to another face that was not hers. And that caused a deep void to open into her heart threatening to consume her completely until she turned into tiny crystals of sand, being gone with the first breeze of a magnolia scented monsoon. _

_No matter how she looked at it, Sakura found herself farther and farther from the outside world and each day one step closer to become fully connected to the only person that had not failed her once: Sasuke. One year was enough to make her completely dependent of his presence. She needed him more as she needed oxygen because as long as she was in his arms, kissing him, getting one with him or feeling his hot skin under her fingertips, was enough to breathe life into her. In fact, she started to truly feel alive and awoken only in his suffocating presence. _

_/Everyone said that life was the greatest of the gifts that God had graced us all with, but it has done nothing to me buy fail me all the times./_

_Her eardrums were so tired from resonating with the harsh reproachful words which came from the others' lips each time she entered their fields of view. Acceptance from the others._

* * *

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* * *

Clumsy desperate steps carried Sakura out of Sai's loathsome home, which served as her _prison cell_ and chamber of torture altogether, flying over the spiral stairs down the living room, the pink haired weeping lady threw the entrance door open, facing the storm outside, as rain washed over her rushing petite trembling frame.

While salty crystal tears were fusing with the heavy cold drops of rain pouring down the angry clouds, as the depressing impenetrable infinite grey was mirroring the pain, shame and torture of her hurt soul, following the trace of her small nose, tracing her swollen cheeks, Sakura was gripping the car keys for dear life, heading straight to the garage, where she could have find the only source of _salvation_.

Or so she deemed as liberation, while the forest green thorn lady found herself abandoned, alienated and more alone than a solitary cliff facing the merciless wind blowing over the hard cold rocks. She couldn't take all the amount of excruciating devastation that her heart has suffered, since she was feeling like an used thorn piece of cloth, stained in the blood of the joyful dreamy young student that she once was.

Clad in only her silk and velvet pure snow white nightgown, which did nothing to protect her from the harshness of the unleashed storm, nor from the demons lurking from the shadows and attempting to rip her in half, projecting the worst of her fears and disappointment outside her body, coming to chase her till the end of time, like a boomerang of damnation for she sins she has done, she run. For provoking the odds to a game she was never meant to win, since she didn't know the rules of destiny.

Life was not something to be challenged, because an ephemeral human being will never come victorious from a fight with something that cannot be measured in seconds, moments, tears and regrets.

As soon as her shaking hands managed to hold the keys steadily and turn on the ignition, bothered by the eerie atmosphere created by the heavy rain outside, drumming loudly on the bricks, in the same steady alto rhythm as her thumping heart, Sakura stepped on the gas, threw the car into reverse and pressed the pedal to the floor, making the engine roar to life, while she exited the garage, almost hitting one of the walls.

"Damn it/" She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she couldn't breathe and it became more and more of a challenge with her perishing strength to stay alive and fight her fate. She _couldn't _do that anymore. Sai has tried to break her wings many times, and he was just one pretty unimportant piece of the grandiose puzzle that her life was; a net of spiders trying to cling to her soul and bring her down to ashes and be gone with the first bloody sunset of March.

There were not enough snowflakes dancing on the velvet sky to have a measure of the amount of overflowing tears pricking at the corners of her blood shoot weeping eyes, covering her field of view in a cloudy mantel of sadness and sorrow, preventing Sakura to have a clear view of the deserted narrow streets and pastoral still houses she was leaving behind, as she went twice, then trice the speed limit, rushing towards an unknown destination.

'_The number you have called is not in service. Please try again later' _Was the same robotic annoying message she kept on getting each time she was attempting to reach the only person she knew she could find deliverance in his embrace: _Sasuke_. And he had no signal on his phone, or he had it shut down.

"Fuck, where are you?!" She kept on repeating even if Sakura was well aware that she was the sole occupant of the still speeding vehicle and no one could hear her panicked inner shout out of rescue or at least try to alleviate some of the extreme depression she was feeling.

One trembling hand was fisted on the steering wheel, barely managing to keep the powerful bolide on the line, while the other one was buried deeply into the ruffled pastel rose locks, grazing her scalp as strange outrageous ideas were shooting down her hazy mind.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself unexplainably enveloped in the ineluctable embrace of the figment of **welcoming** implacable **death** into her already turned upside down existence. She _**wanted to die**_. She wanted to **stop existing** into a world that has brought her more suffering than she was able to envision as the personification of a stigmata she wore, for being so alien in the other people`s lives. People that were meant to provide unconditional support: her mother, her friends, and her fiancé. She got none.

Only burnt timid dreams and hopes, which lied entombed in the dark abyss of her unimaginable rotting heart, was the best things she had as prizes for giving her best to be someone the others would fancy to have around and be proud of.

But Sakura felt like she has wronged them all, even going as far as to take the blame for everything that she couldn't be in their eyes: she was a woman that was unable to voice out her dismay to be forced into a marriage she didn't feel like it would ever mean connections and union of soul, between her and her supposed to be fiance, a fierce daughter with a huge disappointment towards the only surviving relative, who kept on acting like she didn't want to be associated with her failure of a daughter, in any way possible, only seeking personal accomplishment and the tumultuous life that she couldn't have.

The emerald eyed aspiring medic felt suffocated, in a way that made her feel like her hopeful heart has been kept captive in a golden cage and praying for salvation every second of her miserable life.

_Why?_ Was a question that she heard from her friend and inner a billion times. Why was she still trapped in that abusive relationship with a man like Sai and still continue to exist in his world?

_Why?_

"No more..." She sobbed once, already having the familiar sight of the road signal with the exit of the town, while she speeded up towards the only place she could find solace and that was Sasuke's home. " .more!"

Sakura was tired. Tired of her thoughts or revenge against her fiancé, tired to fight him and _tired _to be abuse. She would have endured some more weeks but there were at least seven more months till she got married and her future mother-in-law, who was taking care of the prepositions said that there was a delay in the schedule because of all the churches being unavailable at that date.

_Enough_. She swore that once she stepped into the Uchiha's safe property, Sai would be history. And so was her previous life. She would graduate from med school by the next year and she could find a job whenever. Yes, she only had her nightgown, her car, a sparkling ring worth over $10.3 million -she did _'research'_\- and a car, her wallet or even shoes!

But the emerald eyed crying woman didn't need any. The moment she has welcomed the Uchiha in her life, money came along. He has given her everything, including free access to his home and cars and she could go and take shelter in the safety of his own enormous mansion, with him being there or not.

If Sai or anyone could have find her and harm her anywhere else, Sasuke's house was another story. Like _Hell _would have anyone been able to trespass his property.

That was present in Sakura's mind all the time when she opened the electrical front doors of his home and maneuvered the car on the front alley, where it came to a halt because her tank was empty. Apparently she only had gas to make it that far.

_Huh._

The pink haired lady jumped off the car, not bothering to lock the doors and sprinted inside and upstairs to the huge luxury bedroom that she and Sasuke shared, while she discarded her damp clothes on the way not wanting to give his maids more housework to do and threw her body straight on it, burying her face into the soft pampering flowers and peaches scented linen. It was impregnated with his divine strong scent.

And she allowed herself to break down and cry, cry until she got cleansed of Sai, of his smell and dirt touches, that wouldn't wash away no matter how many times she scrubbed and rinsed, until her pearl white satin skin bleed red.

She had no idea of why wasn't Sasuke picking up her call, she guessed he was probably held back by an important meeting and she understood. He had his own life to carry. Unlike het who only had him as her sole sun, universe and home.

Slept only came to her five hours later.

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* * *

Ayame-_chan_, one of Sasuke's maids and the only daughter of his cook has occasionally brought her meals but hungry she was not. The Uchiha only kept few maids and butlers around, but they would usually leave in the night. She understood that he didn't' trust strangers around his expensive belongings.

But she liked this girl; she was polite, kind and had a pleasant beam. She brought her fresh clothes -_because she wouldn't start parading in her midnight haired lover's clothes_\- helped her take a shower and, three days after she left Sai's home without saying a word, she took her first meal and her first reaction was to puke.

Not because the food had a bad taste but because she had her cursed drunk fiancé's taste on her mouth and damn right if she didn't want to slit her tongue and pull out her teeth just to escape that bitter putrid flavor of strong alcohol and his filthy skin.

Lips and mouth, teeth and tongue which have been exploring another women -_sluts_\- were lingering on her and she had to constantly focus her mind on Sasuke and his delicious lips on her, his fine slick tongue playing upon her and his unique touches on her body, in order to stay sane, and she did since every part of where she stepped was filled with Sasuke's print marks.

She was in his _home _after all. Their home, if Sakura was to state the truth taking in the facts. Home was a place that offered security, comfort, privacy and love. Love that made concrete walls fill with warmth and joyful smiles.

Walls filled with _their_ love. A place to return to each time and be always welcomed with a smile...and a kiss. Oh, how Sakura wished to kiss the Uchiha right then.

She has forced herself to indulge in the delicious food she has been given and even if there were only bits at first until she got her appetite back, she made them frequent.

Good thing that she only had exams later at the beginning of winter so collage wasn't that much of a pester. She has successfully completed her internship two days before the festival. Which was also good.

_Mary._

She shook her head in disbelief, pink locks whipping on her shoulders. Ever since she has found out when and how she died, beside the sorrow for the stunning angelic girl, she couldn't forget her words and the odd experience.

Seeing that there wasn't anything entertaining to do, besides zipping through the boring TV channels in search for something decent to watch she decided to..._explore_, since it kept on raining non-stop since last weekend. Ino has called her few times to check on her and complain about the lack of shopping and called her small gang to some coffee bar or even a club, but she was so not in the mood.

Her inner screamed at her that maybe sharing her pain with Ino and Naruto then go party like a wild animal and have one hell of a Friday night, with a lot of wild carefree dancing, drinking and having fun may not be such a dumb idea but she decided against.

Ino would freak and she was tired of pestering her friends with her problems even if the blonde Yamanaka would jump into the fire for her and so would the other blonde friend who would storm to the police and sue Sai's freaking ass.

Like she _should _have had, but did not.

So she let her thrilled fingers to roam whenever her feet carried her inside Sasuke's home, starting from the indoors huge rose garden and of course, his library.

Her last stop was his huge living room, exploring like a child in the magic forest searching for the chest of wonders and candies. It was the best way to take her mind from Sai and how bad she would have liked to return to his home and choke him with that empty bottle of Scotch he was gripping before he passed out on the floor, after he fucked her brains.

"Hm? Never seen this one before." She opened a drawer she failed to notice and the first thing that caught her attention was the small four leaf clover shaped key lock and she knew it was fake. She giggled while pressing her thumb on the button, opening the drawer. "He is so classy." There was a single object resting neatly inside and it was anything but what the pinkette would have expected to find. "A photo album?"

Delicate pastel pink eyebrows came together while she took it away of its confinement, almost dropping it since it was heavier than it looked and thick. "Sasuke never keeps _photos_." It was a sad fact she has learned over the year. The sole heir of the Uchiha family had no picture of his family or any relative in his home, not even a single memento to keep in his thoughts with his ancestors. Or even a photo in a frame on his office desk._ Nothing_. Like he had no roots, no history and when she asked for a reason he said he didn't need to be reminded of the things that couldn't have been restored to him once lost and she never questioned again. "It looks so old."

She let her body drop down the comforting armchair, while her back sank into the soft fluffy cushions, studying the album.

She let her fingers slip past the small thousands golden and bright red rubies encrusted leaves hard cover, letting out a honest _wow_ grow on her parted lips. She turned it over to see that it was entirely made of pure gold, platinum and silver and precious gemstones shimmering in the light. The edges were rounded and cut lace like, in a similar effect obtained using the fretwork technique. In a nutshell, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

She eagerly opened it, bringing her legs up, cuddling into the armchair, getting comfortable and her curious eager emerald eyes were introduced to a gorgeous beyond words young woman, holding a child in her arms. Just under it, on the bottom right of the photograph, the _words Je ne peux pas vivre sans toi_ written in italic letters and black ink stole her eye.

"I cannot live without you…" She whispered softly while studying the picture. It didn't have any date. She looked at the smile of the woman and couldn't' help but notice the perfect delicate features, the tender beam of her heart shaped thin lips, the long lace and silk dress with big lousy folds and lace ribbons fastened around he slim waist. Her long rich dark hair was brushing past her waist and she kept it untied, except for a flower shaped hairpin which kept her bangs in place revealing her stunning face.

There was an old photography technique that was used decades ago, long before the technological revolution of digital color cameras and photography, using an interesting effect. Even if it was black and white and it seemed like the onyx eyes were following her from each direction.

"She is stunning!" Sakura murmured while running her palm over the luscious surface, a melancholic feeling washing past her. "His _mother_ maybe?" It was as obvious as December virgin snow. If not for the high small regal nose, perfect oval shaped face, lean jawline, pointed chin and perfect shaped eyebrows, then those impossibly charcoal big almond shaped orbs, framed by a veil of long curled black eyelashes adding to the mysterious seductive touch, were the undeniable proof of their blood connection.

"He never talks about her. Does he ever think of her?" It was a shock for the entrapped pink haired woman to discover the beauty of such a picture in Sasuke's house. He actually _had_ memories of his family, but he was hiding them into the deepest confinements of his mind. "She looks different than my mother. I bet she was more loving."

She flipped to the next page and almost instantly she gasped. The portrait of a young man no older than twenty years old came face to face to her and if not for his longer and slimmer face and longer greyer hair, with longer bangs falling gracefully on his temples, she could have sworn it was Sasuke. "Is this...he looks exactly like Sasuke! An older brother? He didn't' even tell me that he was not the only child!" The resemblance was astonishing up to the most striking subtle details, such as the noble manly sharp lines and angles of his face and jawline, the identical manner of keeping his lips in a firm straight line, the confusing deep and mysterious look of his equally onyx eyes which seemed to pierce through her soul, they were blood brothers up to the finest mimic and pull of a muscle. "Did they have a fight? Maybe they didn't talk to each other. Is this the reason why-"

A sudden bolt of lightning stroke right above Sasuke's house -_she hasn't realize how hard the angry dark grey clouds were pouring_\- and it scared the heck out of her as she jerked her body, nearly jumping off the armchair, gripping the album she was studying with both her hands. "The sky is weeping."

_/the same sad song as my heart's/_

Another flip of the sepia tinted pages, and another photo of an older Mikoto graced her view. That time she had her hair kept elegantly in a fancy braided bun, a polka dotted middle length conic skirt and a white chiffon sleeveless blouse and she was not facing the camera, rather the big lake behind.

The same lake from the Uchiha's mansion, where the enormous back garden ended and a small virgin forest began. So that was his family's home, she deduced. It explained the old architecture, the tall thick trees and the thick vines hanging on the high windows. Old but heart-stopping beautiful. "She was so pretty...I wonder where her husband is. Were they divorced?" There was distinctive feature and a trait running solely in the Uchiha family that she easily recognize into the picture of both his mother and supposed brother. "His** eyes**..." she smiled at the memory of Sasuke's onyx orbs while she felt them staring back at her, through Mikoto. She was making the picture come to life. "He got them from his mother. Even his lips." She traced her own thinking of their feel of his silk incredibly syrupy mouth. She felt her skin shuddered being reminded of him.

The following pages were full of the same incredibly beautiful lady in different key moments of their fairytale life moments; some from her early years as a teenager, some with her as a married woman and a mother.

And her cherub like delicate smile was plastered on her tender smooth lips in any of the pictures. Pictures of the other Uchiha brother were present as well and he was impassive and cold in all of them and Sakura actually laughed at some of them, because a four years old photograph of an Itachi hidden behind a huge birthday cake, having chocolate and whipped cream on his cheeks and nose, kept the same stoic façade and it deeply contrasted with the situation and age. He was beyond cute and funny to see.

There were two things which didn't set right with Sakura and they were Sasuke's absence from any of them and his father's. Sure she has only seen -_studied_\- half of them but still...

"Whoa-" An unexpected strong breeze slipped past the crept opened window, blowing through her hair and album, flipping the pages in a fast motion, making it seem like a frenetic flutter of a caged bumble bee.

She placed the album on the table beside and shot up towards the spread wide window, until the glass would crack from the way it was hitting the wall beside because of the strong wind. The heavy drops of rain were pounding on the window sill, carried by the wind inside, spraying all over her face and chest and Sakura had to turn her head and tiptoe to close it.

"Damn I gotta change my clothes now..." She cursed as if the sky would hear her complain and stoup unleashing its wrath towards the mortals.

Coincidentally enough, she has been startled once again, because of a loud strong blow which passed her by before securing the windows and dragging the curtains, ruffling her silk long night gown, brushing over the photo album she had placed neatly on the table, while old pictures flew from the rusty pages creating a spiral like a mini hurricane, spreading all over.

"Huh?!" Another sharp lightening pierced the sky and hit a tree from the front alley, making the menacing sound of cracked wood blend into the sinister nocturne atmosphere and the electricity around the area went down for a moment. The thunder that followed made the emerald eyed woman's heart burst of her ribcage and her adrenaline shot through her veins like mini supernovas and she screamed, covering her ears. She found herself in a complete blackout and her entire being has been swallowed by darkness.

"Aah!" She hated thunderstorms ever since she has ben a child. When the electricity came back illuminating the huge living room Sakura took an involuntary step back hitting a candle with her elbow, as her lower back hit the edge of the mahogany _Fazioli _piano.

The album has been thrown off from where she left it, with a muffled low thud, opened to the last page and Sakura started to shake. It was so odd and it started to feel like a horror movie at its climax. She was even afraid to breath and it freaked her because Sakura had never felt threatened in Sasuke's home.

Seeming that an invisible force was trying to shoe her something important -_just like in horror scenarios_\- and she saw a wedding picture of an almost complete Uchiha family, representing the eternal never aging Uchiha matriarch, Mikoto and a very young Itachi, both shadowed by the leader of the family, who she knew he was Fugaku, their father and husband, having his hands placed around their shoulders, his expression just as philosophic and piercing as his sons, but he wasn't angry.

"Beautiful..." She run her fingertips towards the luscious surface admiring the light hues and saturation of the sepia photograph. She flipped it and read the neat handwriting, her emerald eyes filling with horror when she realized what exactly she was looking at."...**1720**?! It cannot be correct! " Was that a cruel joke or did it meant something she was not aware of? Maybe a code, or a secret love message or a safe combination for a very expensive item.

Any other explanation would do, anything but that. Still, the number was flashing before her eyes, arrogantly, screaming into her puzzled face that what she was reading was as real as her maddening thumping erratic heart.

A date...Sakura quickly did the math mentally. If she wore to take it as it was, it meant that the photograph has been about _165 years old_ which was as good as it was _impossible_.

The she has been struck with another realization. Her fingers were working in the pages , while her jade eyes were flying over the pages and she trembled. "One...there _h-has_ to be at least one single photo of..." But she found none. Among over a hundred of photos there was no single one of Sasuke at all. And the explanation her thrown up logic desperately found was weak. She has deduced that he must have been either unborn or an infant, but it didn't explain why they had none with him.

"This is crazy!" She shook her head in disbelief wandering aimlessly through different pictures of the three family searching for the fourth missing one. His rare precious bottomless pearl black eyes...those beautiful eyes she loved...were part of no picture. " Did he not keep any picture with him together with his family?"

That stirred a tornado of questions that came with the mystery lingering over the secret family he kept hidden. Did Sasuke get rid of all the pictures with him? Did he not want anyone who might come across the album see a younger form of him? Was he ashamed, did they get into a fight and he couldn't forgive and move on?

Should she even ask him? It meant she had to reveal the fact that she searched through his belongings.

Sure, Sasuke had complete trust in her and he knew that she was curious and she liked to shove her nose into every secluded corner, which she didn't have any problem with that. Heck, the man has given her his car keys and the keys to his home! A home which was more like a freaking museum as it was huge and packed with priceless antiquities, pieces of furniture, not to mention the insanely rare expensive paintings of Picasso, Dali or Cezanne and the pieces of jewelry he kept in the safe -_one of the many he had, but those were in the banks_\- so he probably wouldn't find it such a big deal, but still...

She felt that he would not be that pleasant to discover that she saw the photographs. She couldn't explain why, but Sakura knew it was nor a good idea. It was a feeling rising up her chest and she trusted her instincts. They haven't let her down so far.

Then, whatever happened, it went in slow motion and Sakura was not sure she was even awake or trapped in some sort of a cruel dream. There was an unexplainable pungent smell of fire that made Sakura snap her head towards the stairs, searching, looking for the source, but found none.

Then another thunder struck her ears and sent her heart into a cardiac arrest. She swallowed her spit almost choking on her own saliva while the hair on her arms stood up in anxiety.

A powerful lightning bolt illuminated the entire area and for a blink of an eye, it made it seem like it was broad daylight making each detail concealed by bight shine before her eyes and it was in that moment when Sakura has seen _it_...

Her trembling clumsy steps carried her towards the exit as she backed away in dear with her hands pressed upon her gaping mouth. "N-No...it can't be-" Eyes filled with terror were glued to _them_. To the three people appearing in front of her. "No...no...NO!" She couldn't...she had done it involuntary when she threw the front door open, while grabbing the car keys in her trembling right hand. She was shaking so badly that the petrified in dread rosette tripped on her feet more than five times, until she run, run away as fast as her jelly weak knees carried her, to the garage.

She had pressed the middle button of the keys, barely managing to apply any pressure on it, while she was keening and praying for the door to open up faster, because it seems that it was going in slow motion. "Pleasee...please...!"

Emerald clouded moist emerald orbs refused to stop weeping fresh stinging tears and she cried. She cried like her whole inner turned into a mourning willow tree and Sakura thought she would melt and turn into a pool, that was how bad she was shedding tears, spilling on her damp hazel cheeks.

There...there in the living room, right at the end of the stairs...even so short as it lasted...

One blink of an eye, one sharp breathe intake...

One moment written in the sand lasting as long as it took for a rolling energetic wave to roll over the shore line and wash it all away...

She saw Sasuke's stunning **mother**...

His almost identical older self, his **brother**, Itachi...

And his stern, intimidating **father**, Fugaku and they were all...

Covered in burn marks, with the decaying rotten dark skin peeling of their faces, arms and legs, until their carbonized bones which were bulking through their putrescent bodies and

**Dead! **

"God, no!" Almost ready...she didn't finish for the door to slide all the way up, and she practically threw herself under it and rolled on her shoulder entering the garage and she run straight to Sasuke's brown _Aston Martin_, opening the car and forced her getting paralyzed in fear frame inside locking the doors.

Thanks God she didn't have to fumble with inserting the keys into ignition, as it was automatic. She quickly pressed the _start engine_ button and the powerful engine came to life, roaring smoothly.

From all the odd things that happened to her on the past few week, that was making all the others look like a walk in the park.

How...and more than that, _why_? Why has she seen Sasuke's family members coming back from their eternal slumber, to haunt his mansion -the walls that once filled with smiles, light and love, were now silent witnesses of the tragedies that took them away from him.

The sight of them was so macabre that words stuck down her throat like a boulder, preventing her to cry her heart out like she wanted, sobbing uncontrollably as she maneuvered the car outside exiting the garage at 70 mph, still speeding down the main alley, towards the front gates, barely keeping her erratic hands on the steering wheel.

"Dear _Lord_..." It was not like she could even see much because it was raining like crazy and there was a mini waterfall cascading down the windscreen and the wipers were good to nothing.

It only lasted a second, when she blinked once it was gone but it was stuck on her mind and retina forever. To Sakura it was an eternity. She would definitely not forget the decomposing face of the beautiful Mikoto from the photo and instead of the peculiar never fading smile, her lips were purple and wrinkled, her smooth skin was melted and putrid and half of her face was practically showing off her skeleton, her onyx eyes -_that landed straight on her_\- were filled with terror, they screamed to her in pure agony, pain, suffering, anguish and torture and it shot Sakura's tender soft heart like a sharp poisoned arrow, making her retaliate with her misery.

She _felt_ the torment of Uchiha Mikoto and she swore she could taste the bitterness of her salty bloody tears on her own tongue. And it tore hear heart in half.

So much **pain**...it was inhumane to feel that pain...

It consumed Sakura both mentally and physically.

Then when she threw a frightening glance in the rear mirror -_on pure reflex because she forced herself not to, afraid of what she might see_\- her heart stopped, her breath hitched down her throat, her blood freeze down her veins and the only thing that rushed her stupefied eyes were seeing was Sasuke's home burning in _flames_!

"T-T-This is...it n-no...h-how can this happen?" Everything was enveloped in flames, the walls were crumbling, the windows were blowing fire, all the house turned into a giant torch, as well as the garden. The flowers, the trees, the exotic vegetation turned to ashes and fire was consuming **everything**. The beauty and grandeur of the place perished under the merciless scintillating main element of the Universe, leaving behind carbonized crumbling bricks and scorched vegetation.

The once majestic red, white and pink big rose bushes decorating each sideways of the winding alleys up to the front door, were then consumed by the blaze. The house itself stood like a giant dragon, spiting fire from its greedy mouth and Sakura herself if it hasn't burned her as well.

Heavy rain was pouring from the sky which seemed to have taken pity of the combustion enveloping whatever she could comprise in her field of view, but it only seemed to stir the fire further instead of taming it.

And then the screams...those agonizing, screeches of extreme pain were making the thick darkness around crack, blasting with the ominous sound of scintillating flames. Unconsciously her eyes filled with fresh crystalline tears as she felt...she felt and saw them all being caught into the flames.

All the Uchiha family members were fighting to find their way out of the once security of their home, away from the trap of _Hell_, with no luck. The top roof has collapsed in front of the entrances, the walls were giving up under the consuming extreme heat and the windows were too high to jump. Everything around was surrounded by flames. Mikoto's tears were cascading down her regal cheeks while she looked through a once window howling for help. No one answered.

Downstairs, a grown-up Itachi and Fugaku were trying to tear a side door open and free themselves, to no avail. It was stuck and there were flames blazing all around them; plus, the high temperature was oxygen consuming as flames made it hard for them to keep on going.

Upstairs, the desperate mother started to lose consciousness, her weak attempts to stop the dioxide to penetrate her lungs and burning her chest with a piece of her thorn skirt pressed on her nostrils and mouth have been fruitless.

"G-Get out...someone help them!" Sakura burst out to no one in particular as it was no one around and she knew, she knew all too well but she didn't care. Then with a huge blast and a lightning hitting the already disintegrating walls of the unrecognizable Uchiha mansion, successfully turned the furious fire into a crematory.

They were all caught by the flames burning along their most precious memories inside, crumbling along the house, furniture and works of art. Everything burned down to ashes. Including Sasuke's members of family.

All..._except_ of him. Sasuke was _not_ present among them. Call it luck, call it fate, call it destiny, but Sakura was certain that he survived. The _lone_ survivor of the Uchiha family.

The worst part of it was the caustic scent of decaying desquamate rotten skin, peeling from their scorched bones and it made Sakura's stomach do a flip flop, making her so sick that she opened the door and threw up violently unable to resist the pungent stink. It was making her nostrils crawl and her temples were exploding.

She couldn't take it anymore; it was like the whole scene playing before her eyes has gotten to her as well and she died sling in the most sinister way. When she emptied the contents of her queasy sick stomach she quickly slammed the door shut, stepping on the gas again and making the car come to life, speeding down the street into the limbs of night, and far away from that living Hell.

She was shaking, sobbing uncontrollably, her exploding head was lolling on the headrest, she couldn't feel her turned jelly fish legs, while driving on pure instincts, her limbs were trembling on the steering and gear stick and she couldn't see a thing in front of her, not even the street.

What she has witnessed was beating the worst horror or sinister scenario. To see such a magnificent construction being swallowed by the flames and its innocent owners being sent into eternity in such a torturous way of burning alive was as painful as having her soul ripped from its carcass.

The pain was consuming and it made her go crazy. Somehow...Sakura knew that what she saw has happened long time ago, that it could have been a figment of her imagination, a dream or an illusion, but it felt too real and vivid to be ignored and not affect her.

The idea of Sasuke's home disappearing taking away the memories of him and about him and his ancestors and beloved family was making her go numb in dread. Without him, she would burn down as well.

The car was basically flying over the deserted washed by rain streets and she hasn't removed her foot from the gas; like she somehow attempted to escape in another time from the view which would haunt her dreams like a hallucination. A mirage. A cruel phantom emerging from the core of time to reveal a painful secret to her.

Was that the reason why Sasuke has always kept silent and never told her the truth? Was the pain too great even for an iron man like him? Was he ashamed?** Guilty** that he was the only one surviving the tragedy and he was powerless when his family deceased before his eyes?

Her breathing became uneven and something akin to a steel armor was pressing down her chest and it was hard to breathe; hard to exist and hard to learn the truth. All this time Sasuke had been sentenced by the cruel fate, to shoulder the burden of knowing that his family has died because they have been incinerated**, burned alive** and buried under the crumbling collapsing walls of their home, with their cries and howls in agony, and the extreme pain serving as their tombs.

The impressive unbelievably majestic property where Sasuke's home was, was haunted by the grieving echoes of his buried and burned alive parents and brother. And all that time...she knew _nothing_. The guilt...

She fisted her right hand down her damp and disheveled pink hair gripping and pulling at it, wanting to pluck the roots of remorse out of her head.

* * *

Her emerald eyes saw nothing before. She was driving aimlessly through the sinister night plagued by the storm outside. She was driving along the river and she knew that she was twenty minutes away of the town.

_90 mph_ and she was still speeding down the slippery road.

_110 mph_, the powerful engine of the expensive car was pushing the definition of smoothness, endurance and speed to the limits.

_140 mph_...still speeding, her vision got foggy. Those onyx eyes boring into her and the scream for help and scare for their life was haunting her.

_168 mph_, the car was flying and she had her foot glued to the gas and that precisely the reason why...

She **failed** to see the equally speeding car, coming from the opposite way, but the driver who was also way past the speed limit was a bit tipsy and was driving on her line. When the white headlights from Sakura's car flashed before his eyes blinding him, the young man jerked the steering wheel to his right, his instincts to avoid an imminent collision kicking in.

Unfortunately...he wasn't _fast_ enough.

Everything from there was a blur and it happened before any of the two drivers had the chance to process.

The _Aston Martin _that Sakura was driving has been hit and the impact was so powerful that it threw it off the road, with a blast piercing through the eerie night. It hit it on the side but enough to send the car, along with the unlucky pink haired lady, flying.

The alcohol indulging young man's car span several times, before it came to an abrupt stop, a few good meters far from the place of accident.

And the last thing that Sakura perceived before she went unconscious, was the sound of splashing water hitting metal and glass sinking car violently, when she has been sent flying into the _river_.

* * *

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* * *

A sharp pain like an icicle piercing his chest went through him and it made the golden pen slip from his numb fingers. "...?" He _knew_ that feeling.

He knew it all _too_ well and that made his head shot up from the files he was studying, silk raven locks spreading over his forehead and jawline. "No."

His once bottomless shimmering charcoal big orbs shimmering silver, were bleeding crimson like the color of blood tainting the horizon at crepuscule and the star shaped distinctive pattern around his irises were spinning like a windmill, caught in the storm. "NO!"

His ominous widened orbs were fully set in the hourglass resting on his office desk while his heart turned cold and petrified like the rocky cliffs of the highest mountains. The tint sparkling pink crystals of sand...has _stopped_ leaking.

_Sakura!_

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She was...

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* * *

_/Build a rainbow across my heart and let me steal every color to paint my grey world. I want to find the greatest wonder into your smile. It is the very essence of life I breathe. I find every drop of crimson rich fine wine into your eyes and I still cannot get enough drunk of the way you watch me as I matter. _

_I don't think that such a thing as infinity exists, but what I am certain about is that I can knew you for a lifetime. And even beyond death I will still chase after your smile, like a sun flower craving for its sun/_

_She was floating like a disoriented lost frightened shadow in a sea of darkness and uncertainty was surrounding her like a haze._

_/When exactly has this world started to forget me and when I have become a fading memory for the ones I once loved dearly? Are we humans or memories?/_

_She could feel the damnation into his words and it cut like the sharpest of the blades._

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* * *

Author`s Note: This chapter is for _friends._ Friends whose faces I have never seen, but I have felt the gentleness of their heart and they kept on touching me with their amazing thoughts and beautiful words. And for that, I will be forever _grateful._ For all of you who kept on supporting my work and trust the future of this story, thank you. Without you, I will be just a simple name and this story, just empty lines.

I have some things I would like to share.

_Sakura`s campus experience_ is based on a _real _life experience and it belongs to my mother. When she was young, my mother and her older sister were living in campus and she had a good friend, who also lived there, but on another floor.

Since my mother has been living her young adult days in communism, they didn't have electricity or running water after a certain hour. Also, the toilets were few and on another floor than her room, so one night, my mom woke up and felt the need to use the bathroom, so naturally she had to take the stairs –there was no elevator- and cross a darkened corridor.

She has been clad in a long white silk lace night gown and took a candle, but she didn't have a lighter or a match and nor did her sister, who was sleeping soundly. So my mother exited the room and made it to the first floor, where she attempted to go and knock on her friend`s door, to ask for a match and light up her candle. All the way down the stairs, a man just like the one I have described, dressed in a suit has been silently following her all the way, but she didn't feel threatened by him. There is a thing she cannot remember, but my mom has no idea if she has ever made it to her friend on her way to her room, but she suddenly turned around to the stranger and asked him to lighten her candle up and he simply stared at her, without moving or helping.

And then my mother freaked out. She opened the door that connected the stairs to the hall, threw it in his face and run back to her room, getting on her sister`s bed, waking her up. She has told her that she has seen her deceased _father_ but my aunt was a skeptical one and called her crazy.

My mother was a little child when her father died, so she has never met her, only her older brothers and sisters, but she knew it was him. The next day when she has shared her story with her best friend, she reenacted the scene and when she got to the door, it was opened and in the same position as she has left it the night before and when she attempted to close it and explain the entire incident to her friend, she saw her father still standing there, behind the door.

She screamed and sprinted outside and so did her friend, who accompanied her. My mom is not sure whether her friend shouted out loud as well because she too has seen the man, or simply because my mom screamed. They have never brought up that subject.

When telling my about grandma about the incident, she said that if he would have lighted up her candle, then it would have been bad omen and my mother would have died. Instead, he came as a massager with good will. And everything went smooth in my mom`s life. She has met d, ad and they got married.

By the way, my father was born in July, four days after _Sasuke _and he is also dark eyed and dark haired…

I want to make it clear that this story will have 7 chapters. No more, no less. This number is symbolic for my story like all the other relevant elements which support the main theme. But I am sure you have already observed this.

Also, I am perfectly aware of the fact that I have written a complacent Sakura, who has so many possibilities of leaving Sai and go leave with Sasuke, but I want to highlight the fact that this is not a story about women who indulge in abusive relationships. Everything that happens here, even Sakura`s complacency has a reason.

_AppleD, thank you for letting me know how you feel about this story and yes, I am aware of that particular story. I understand your point of view, but my approach is different. It is not based on mythology, but mostly folklore.  
_

At the end of the last chapter, I am going to take my time and try to explain the plot of the story, starting from the main idea and how I have tried to prove my point using relevant elements. So if there are many things that have no sense so far, I will explain every single of them. Even Sakura`s weakness. I am sorry if the plot itself seems boring so far.


	5. And then there was only you

_**CHAPTER V: **__**AND THEN... THERE WAS ONLY YOU**__**…::**_

1

2

3

4

**–5****–**

6

7

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**"People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of**  
**life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they**  
**continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It**  
**is as though they were traveling abroad."**  
**― Marcel Proust**

* * *

**_::Build a rainbow across my heart and let me steal every __color__ to paint my __gray__ world. I want to find the greatest wonder into your smile. It is the very essence of life that I breathe._**

**_I __find__ every drop of crimson __within the __fine droplets of wine into your eyes and I still cannot get drunk enough of the way you watch me as I matter._**

**_I __don't__ think that such a thing as infinity exists, but what I am certain about is that I can __love__ you for a lifetime. And even __beyond the __death...__ I will still chase after your smile, like a __sunflower__ craving for its sun._**

**_I was floating __like__ a disoriented lost frightened shadow in a __sea__ of darkness __and__ uncertainty was surrounding me like a haze._**

**_When__ exactly has this world started to forget me and when have I become a fading memory for the ones I once loved dearly?_**

**_ Are we human or memories of a past time?::_**

* * *

**I.**

* * *

A chimera, an utopian figment of her drowning sick imagination, a gentle tremble of an Autumn leaf, a sad grand piano concerto in the Eden Garden, everything that once felt so tangible was slowly but steadily slipping past her fingers.

Slim desperate digits which was fighting the nightmare of seeing her life scattered in a bottomless sea of darkness, merciless and cruelly drowning her into the abyss, without allowing her a moment to contemplate over the fact that she didn't have a way to save herself.

The implacable destiny of the fragile human condition was enfolding before Sakura`s terrified chartreuse orbs as she was engaged in a futile rescue mission, hitting the windscreen of the sinking car as hard as she could in vain.

The expensive thick special glass would only ripple under the dark menacing waters, she could clearly hear the frightening howl of metal sinking into the waters as it pulled her further towards the bottom and the loud deep pitch of a sinking wreck ship was piercing through her ears and Sakura went deaf and her eardrums were pounding like the drum inside her heart.

God only knew why was she still conscious since the implacable impact of the two speeding cars slicking along the slippery road covered in the heavy drops of pouring rain sent her crashing into the waters of the river that winded along the sinuous deserted road, but she was miraculously awake and sound of her condition.

Never in Sakura`s existence did the foreshadowing of _death _has been more petrifying and benumbing as in that moment when she was viciously fighting for saving herself.

The freezing water has already flooded the interior of Sasuke`s car, swathed her into a grip of an extremely cold wet blanket and she had little to no oxygen left, but no matter how and with what was she trying to hit the windows and get out before it was too late, it was pathetic and futile.

The glass was shattered and undulating in a decadent ironic dance but it won't break and provide her freedom.

The heart that was thumping inside her chest, the tiny frozen puffs of hair standing erect at the base of her nape and her are forearms, she was so _cold _and panicked, that Sakura could have sworn that even the crystalline rivulets of the tears spewing along her marble opaline cheeks turned into hard diamonds, chilling her feverish skin.

Millions of screaming voices, the butter taste of agony latched on her lips and tongue, the horrifying images she has perceived to the living nightmare at Sasuke`s mansion and now the apocalyptic image of being surrounded by the indomitable _darkness _without any chance of escaping has made Sakura`s breaths hitch halfway along her windpipe.

She was gasping and panting feverously as she tried in vain to hit the windscreen and search for the tiniest crack into the glass for her to hit and somehow leave the care. "No… it can't end like this…"

She was openly tearing and wailing even if the rose haired woman`s voice broke to the sound of a silent romantic violin in the night, sounding so defeated and deferential with her predicament and somehow, after the adrenaline rush that coursed through her as a natural barrier of defense that engaged her natural`s defense and instinct of survival, Sakura felt her senses go avian and she started to lose consciousness.

The water was making the _white magnolia _silk and lace robe that embellished her benumbed opaline skin float around her limbs and her half unraveled round breasts prickled with tiny goose-bumps as the water rose alarmingly fast to her slender swan neck.

That was it; the end that was so dreaded by any mortal, the indomitable hands of destiny that had a grasp that no one escaped from.

The claws of the Death, the bloodcurdling acrid taste of her imminent doom, were making her tears burn along the long curled blades of her eyelashes as her wails turned into soft meek whispers, all entombing a single suave name leaving her lips. "Sasuke…"

What was the most ironic and lamentable in the situation that was presented before her, was that she won't be able to see the gorgeous loving face of her raven haired lover.

She won't be able to become his betrothed, to wear his family name proudly attached to her first one, to sleep beside him and cuddle with him in front of his warm sizzling fireplace during rainy days, she wouldn't hear his poetic declarations of romance or talk to him about her dreams and she will never feel his kisses and the ardor of his arms and caresses when they made love.

And the thought that someone might take that away from her as she would become nothing and conjoin with the stardust of the universe was making her drown in cascades of tears as the water was making her teeth clatter.

She only saw darkness around. No lights, no shimmering rays of hope, no sharp objects to use and slam the window or the door open, no nothing.

"I don't wanna die…" Sakura was a reasonable woman, an aspiring medic and a lucid down to earth girl with a troubled childhood and an uncaring mother.

She wasn't afraid of death per se, it was after all her destiny as a human being but when it came, it took her by surprise.

She never anticipated to die in such a pitiful way. To make the headlines by tomorrow and stir hordes of hot shameful gossip about the fiancé of Sai the famous painter dying in a terrible car accident as she was driving another man`s –who just happened to be even more famous than her supposed future groom- luxury car on the single road that led to his mansion, far away from her own home.

If that wouldn't be the apocalypse of all the fiasco and masquerades in the form of a grotesque Greek tragedy about cheating and loving another man behind her fiancé`s back, than Sakura had no idea what was worse.

"Help me, please anyone!" She became hysteric while the water has reached the level of her arched chin and the running low oxygen started to pressure her lungs and burn her chest.

She wasn't stupid. Death by drowning was terrible, painful, a horrendous experience and a torturous way to leave that world and Sakura knew it wall too well because she was a Med school student.

She didn't want to die and definitely not then, not like that and not without seeing Sasuke one more time. She truly hoped to live a long life and die of age and not at a fragile young days when her womanhood and beauty were in bloom, alone on a road where barely anyone crossed in such a painful way.

She didn't.

Probably the other driver from the car that has hit her from the opposite way was already dead. Even if everything happened in the span of a nanosecond as she became blinded by iridescent strong lights burning her retina, blinding her and throwing her off the road, Sakura was positive that the accident has been violent enough to leave no survivors.

She guessed that if he hit one of the many fir trees embellishing the road then he was pulverized under a pile of metal so she got no hopes high that he might want to rescue her. The feeble attempts to scream for help were only pure reflexes and nothing else.

An unconscious reflex to alleviate the guilt that she did nothing fruitions to rescue her but Sakura was trapped. She perceived everything and heard every noise of the empty high pitched screech of her drowning alongside Sasuke's car.

And the river she has been engulfed into was pretty deep too so she had no luck to miraculously survive until someone came to her rescue.

_If _someone would come because no matter how buoyant she tried to be and remain positive, Sakura knew that if the other driver who was most likely out cold wont jump in and rescue her, then she was done for.

Feeling her body go limp and motionless as jerking uselessly only made her lose the air that was filling her lungs to the maximum, holding her breath out of reflex, Sakura let her exhausted beautiful darkened emerald eyes shut as her vision blended with the darkness of the frozen water.

Her mind was invaded by acceptance and melancholic images of all the times she has been happy. If anything, Sakura didn't want to die imagining horrifying things and the last thing she wanted to see will be the one to take in the afterlife.

The exult look in Naruto`s playful azurite orbs when they had fun, the loving motherly gentle face of her deceased grandmother, the jubilate angelic face of her delicate best friend Ino and of course, Sasuke and their encounter.

Those were the best moments that she vaulted and stored inside her soul. If her soul would soar from her lifeless body, then the parts she has tattooed on her spirit regarding them will be forever a part of her.

She will desperately and thirstily _love _those four most important people in her life for eternity. Her body danced under the crepuscule that enveloped the interior of the car as the waters of the rivers have swallowed the powerful vehicle entirely and her outline was glowing in a cruel solitude, making her look so fragile and heavenly.

And the last tremble of her heart that was pumping less feverously as water entered her system and mind was shutting down from the lack of oxygen, were three words that she sent to the wielder of her heart. "Sasuke… help… me…"

In that inexorable mass of freezing crepuscule, as consciousness started to fade into a benumbing dream, the door of her car slicked open, while the vehicle was heading towards the bottom of the lake.

Sakura had no idea how she could still catch it with her clouded blinded vision, how her closing emerald orbs have perceived it like a gleam, a gush of light, a fading phantom in the twilight, the lucent outline of salvation, but she saw it; she saw it materializing in the form of a jesuitic chimera and for a moment… she really thought that it was there to lead her to the _Light._

An opaline hand that was contoured from ethereal light, as suave as a brush of a snowflake, slim fingers of a pianist having the grace of the wind blow have curled around her fluttering hand, holding her wrist gently but steadily slowly pulling her unresponsive floating body out of the car and towards the surface.

For a moment… just for a moment Sakura saw the face of her _Angel_; a face that caused a turmoil of tears in her chest few time ago, a visage so washed by pain and despair that she had it ebbed into the figments of her imagination forever and it was now glowing with the radiance of an ethereal creature of Elysium: Uchiha _Mikoto_.

But it was not the image of her that she bore at the mansion, no. It was her former days of dazzling radiance, when the moments of divine beauty graced the mother of the man she loved.

She was divine like an angel, her face was unblemished, opaline and graceful with no trace of scars and burn marks, her smile was motherly, suave, caring and mesmerizing pushing security and comfort into Sakura`s heart and even if it only lasted for a heartbeat, she felt it.

The woman was wearing a pure white dress, embellished with lace, brocade motifs, floral decorations and silk and she was like a Queen.

Sasuke`s _deceased _mother was taking her to the surface of the lake. It was the last figment she had before passing out and even though logic was screaming at her that what was happening was sheer impossible, she saw it with her very mind`s eyes.

"Hang on, Miss! Come on, stay with me!" His thumb and index draped her nostrils while his lips attached to her wide opened mouth to breathe air into her lungs. "Damn it, Miss!" The cocoa-blonde middle aged man beckoned the unresponsive rose haired beauty to give him a sign –any sign- that he hasn't been too late.

A deep cut was bleeding rivulets of blood flowing along his temples and immixing into his disheveled hair from his head as the concussion knocked him out for a few seconds, as he lied trapped into the car that has spun in the air and threw him off the road but miraculously he hasn't hit any tree.

He woke up from his unconscious state by a mysterious feeling of electricity coursing through his body and he responded immediately, deflating the airbags that kept him secure in the driver`s seat; it was pure luck that he was a military doctor who was being on a mission heading towards the Military Hospital when he crushed Sakura`s car and he also took part in several military missions in war countries before so his natural instincts immediately kicked in.

The man could have sworn that someone or rather _something _has cajoled him to wake up and go save the woman whose car he has crushed; somehow, by a fortunate miracle of destiny, he wasn't death even if his car was a pile of metal wrecks, he was alive. Alive despite the broken fragments stuck into his leg, broken ribs and head concussion.

Not only that but adrenaline urged him to be insane enough to jump into the river following the sizzling bubbles on the mirror clear surface indicating the place where her car was sinking.

He jumped after the other driver that he crushed into by his own fault for crossing the line and losing the control of his vehicle because of his excessive speed on a slippery road on a stormy weather, led by a miraculous magnetizing force that sowed him exactly where he should swim.

It was the medic and military officer in him that urged the desperate man to do such an insane suicidal thing. After few moments of sinking down the darkness of the abyss, he spotted the car heading to the bottom and immediately opened the door which wasn't locked –thanks God- and rescued the other victim who was indeed a woman.

A young beautiful woman clad in a night gown driving a luxury car on a road to a suburb for rich. Had it been on another context, the man would find that predicament be quite eerie and suspicious but he had no time to inquire of her reasons to dash on the streets like that, for he was busy giving her CPR.

She was still not responsive, her unconscious state was due to the lack of oxygen, he had no idea of how much time did she spend under water with her brain deprived of air, she probably had water in her lungs and he barely felt her pulse.

He was frenetically pumping her chest to stimulate her heart beats and alternated his pace with breathing air into her mouth. "Come on Miss breathe… breathe damn it! Don't die on me now, come on! Breathe!"

He already called for an Ambulance and he knew that his medic colleagues were on the road, they will be there soon but he had to give her first aid, even if his own injuries were painful and he was starting to get dizzy from trying to save her.

As a medic, it was a heavy pressure and a big responsibility that he felt to rescue the very young woman with her avant garde looks and the exquisite hair in the color of exotic corals. He will never forgive himself for his mistake if it cost the girl her life.

An astonishingly beautiful ring was gleaming on her finger; she was engaged. Damn it.

"God don't let her die like this… by my own damn fault!" Ten minutes. He was certain that his benumbed limbs that ached for frenetically trying to start her heart and the mental count for maintaining his compresses to 100 per minute which required a lot of energy that he didn't have momentarily.

But the medic had to do it until the Paramedics came; ironically enough he was speeding up and broke the speed limit because he was late for an emergency surgery that he had to perform to a military officer that has been injured in Africa and has been brought to the hospital he was working in and his fellow colleague on call has suddenly fell ill and was unable to perform the surgery so he had to take his place.

And for that, he has crushed the car of an innocent woman who was fighting for her life. She still gave no sign that she was alive.

The heavy rain was pouring merciless over their tarnished forms covered in blood as he dragged Sakura to the river bank, mixing the blood with the soil in a decadent vista of death.

The color of dark purple was infusing in the opaline of her skin, her lips were wrinkled and equally lavender, her figure was serene and eerily beautiful and she was still motionless; he was losing hope.

Twenty minutes…

She was still unresponsive, there was not a single flinch of her unchanged glass doll expression, she was pale and cold as ice, her nostrils were not flaring, her limbs and muscles have not twitched once, she had no breathes, no inhales, his skilled fingers barely caught the pump of a dainty vibration of her pulse and that was questionable.

She has stayed for too long submerged and deprived of oxygen.

Tears were prickling at the corners of his amber orbs and the incapacity to save a life was washing over him like a hurricane; a simple man was powerless in front of the implacable _destiny._

He kept on trying to resuscitate her, pressing frenetically on her chest, hoping that she was still among the living ones…

**One** compression…

She was most likely…_ dead_.

**Two** compressions…

She _was _dead.

**Three **compressions…

She_is_ dead.

"No, damn it! No!"

The procedure required for him to apply the CPR until the Ambulance came.

She had no pulse.

She wasn't breathing.

Her heart was still as a cobblestone tomb.

Her face serene and ivory-lavender.

Cold

Cold

_Cold_

It was useless and as a medic he knew it as well.

She is _dead_.

His hands were working on auto-pilot. His mouth kept on breathing life into her lungs.

_Don't give up._ A mysterious voice kept on murmuring into his head.

He was too late. _She _was too late to save her.

_Don't give up now. _It was probably his guilty conscience; he has been responsible for the accident.

Once more. He pumped her heart once more.

She _is _dead.

_Don't give up_. He knew it was in vain; his experience as a medic urged him to give up. It was his kind nature, the man in him didn't let his hands fall on his sides, powerless and resigned.

_Try once more. _He breathed into her mouth once more; his lungs were screaming in pain, his lips were trembling against her freezing ones.

It was too late.

_Don't give up._ "It`s too late… she`s dead… I am so sorry Miss, forgive me… please forgive me!"

Once… more! He owned her that he concluded; so he kept on compressing her chest once more with his last remain of energy, before his glossy eyes shut in tears and his limbs fell on his lap.

It was in that moment when the sirens of the Ambulance and a police car roared into the heavy night and rung into his eardrums, lights creeping into the night from the road.

…it was in that moment when he felt a fain thump of her heart caress his palm.

She is _alive!_

* * *

.

.

.

* * *

Everything felt like a hurricane washing through her disheveled mind; there was a mass of darkness and confusion lingering above her mind, there was no coherence in the throb of her mind nor in the pang of her chest and everything in her body hurt, starting from her muscles and head, to her belly.

Never in her life has Sakura felt like she has been dancing on the limbs of death and came back from the dry dessert where she has been left to rot under the merciless sizzling sun rays.

First time she has opened up her eyes was three days after the accident and it felt like the most laborious thing she has ever done. She has spent the last hours in a semi-comatose state and the fact that she came to her senses so quick was a miracle by itself.

If she wore to be cliché and completely honest, everything that she has envisioned during her three days of being kept alive by the machines, Sakura has undergo through all the stages that a comatose patient who miraculously returned back to his family and beloved ones experienced, namely tasting the esoteric fascination of being called to the 'Light' but she heard the voice of the medic that has manage to resuscitate her and consequently she came back to the living and responded to him.

She breathed and hence she saved her life; he saved her life in the last moment when it was physically possible.

When the paramedics and his fellow colleague medics have found the two of them lying on the river bank, he has managed to bring her back from the border between the afterlife and the world of living ones and she has been brought at the Military Hospital in Konoha where she was being kept in the ICU and no visiting allowed.

Upon getting the news about her disappearance, her mother Mebuki has cut her journey to Suna short and came running to stay by her daughter` s side and for once in her lifetime, she nurtured feelings of motherly worry and apprehension at the idea of losing her only daughter.

She hasn't moved from the waiting room ever since the police has called her to drop the shocking news that her daughter has been involved into a terrible accident.

The woman, who was currently staying motionless glued to the green plastic chair with her hands sunk into her disheveled hair, crying and wailing as she prayed to God to make another miracle and have her daughter wake up hasn't even bother to inquire the reason why Sakura had an accident on that road that was so far from her home and friends –or any familiar road to her- or why was she driving a car that wasn't hers and why was she dressed in a nightgown.

Worry was eating her from inside out and she felt utterly guilty for neglecting the rosette so much. If Sakura would have been dead, Mebuki would have gone crazy.

The medics assured her that she was being tended by the most skilled of the medics and they will do everything they can to save her life and they did. Now she only had to open up her orbs and cooperate. They had no idea of her cerebral activity and how much of her brain has been affected by the lack of oxygen.

That was yet to be seen.

Also, they divulged another piece of news that had Mebuki almost faint and that was the reason why she was silently wailing in a faraway corner, not even having the courage and the power to turn her head over her bent shoulder and face Sai`s family.

The fastidious ritzy _Tanaka _family consisting of Sai and his two parents were having similar worry stricken stances, staying glued to the coffee machine all entrapped into a cruel hallucinating dream of apprehension.

Mebuki never saw any flinch washing over that woman`s visage like in that moment; the woman was in no better mood than her and she refused to talk to anyone.

Sai… for as long as he and Sakura have been engaged and basically living together like spouses, she has never actually seen him concerned over her daughter and Mebuki knew the way he treated her; well she wasn't filled in with the bloodiest and most horrendous details over their mismatched cataclysmic relationship but she suspected that her chartreuse eyed daughter was everything but happy with that man.

For the first time in her life, she felt like the cruelest monster for pushing her daughter into that forced marriage. But it was too late for those remorse.

The news that the doctor gave to them has left Sai speechless and languid. Exhaustion was tangible on his overtired faces and there was such a major drop in his phlegmatic façade that it stunned everyone.

He never once left the hospital and he begged so ardently for the doctors to permit him to enter to his fiancé`s room and touch her lifeless angelic face and caress the skin of her cold palm and ultimately they allowed him to enter for few moments.

He looked terribly concerned and something snapped inside him and moved the boulder in his chest.

The medic that took care of all her injuries and was in charge with her case has been to her bed two minutes after a nurse that was constantly checking on her vitals has confirmed that the rosette has finally came into her senses and opened up her incredibly exotic eyes in the color of crystalline gleaming emeralds.

She was very confused and limp at first but she was coherent and gave no worrisome signs of amnesia. Her mind has naturally blocked the moments of her accident as a natural defense mechanism and her drowning moments when she started to lose oxygen but that was understandable.

A quick tomography has confirmed that her brain hasn't been damaged. She will make a fully recovery but she was still yet to spend at least five more days in the hospital before she will be discharged because the doctors wanted to make sure that the multiple injuries she had will not get worse and Sakura understood.

The kind doctor was patient with her and responded to all her questions. Also he noticed about the presence of her family members who upshot from their stupor as soon as the monitors attached to her bed started to beep and show clear signs of cerebral activity but they were yet to visit her.

Sakura has taken the nurses and the medics by surprise by confessing that she didn't want to welcome any visit from her family.

Secretly, she was expecting for _another _face to slick past the door of her private hospital room when she has finally been convinced to let them see her because they never left the hospital`s grounds ever since they have been briefed about the accident.

But upon letting her learn about the most unfortunate heartbreaking news about her accident, her doctor has respected Sakura`s decision to mourn alone for an entire day.

By the first glimpses of the morning on the next day, she has accepted the visit of her fiancé Sai in her hospital room.

It was a lacerating grave silence and an eerie funerary atmosphere in the room when he entered cautiously and even Sakura was surprised to see emotions dance on Sai`s face; he was graced by her turned back as she didn't want to see his face ever again.

She was gazing absentmindedly on the puff velvet clouds that floated occasionally on the late November rainy sky when she heard the door open and shut calmly.

She heard his steps approach her bed; she never once turned around to face him. She never wanted to see that man again, he was the reason why she was in that imbroglio. He was the sole culpable of her condition.

Why was he there? What right did he have to claim on seeing her? Insist that he bore a title that held no affiliation to any of them?

It was silent for ten good minutes and neither of them broke it; one was at impasse of how should he approach such a topic and what to say first when he realized how much of an animal he has been while the other one wanted nothing more than for her visitor to vanish from her life forever.

Finally, it was Sai the one to break his silence and the hush of his quivery voice has even stunned her.

"I-I am so sorry… Sakura." Something clasped within Sakura`s chest when she felt her bed sheets ruffle as a sign that he was leaning towards her bed and she felt the urge to shout it out at him not to be cynic and insolent.

He never felt sorry for every abuse he made. Why being a perfect actor when she was tired of being a puppet? "Words – cannot start to describe how bad I feel for this… for everything you have gone through…"

His voice sounded broken, remorseful, husky and sore like he has been crying for hours for her; was he even alert of the significance of the word 'worry'? Sakura wondered who paid him for acting so concerned towards her?

Was it because he had to maintain a certain façade in public? Act like the e perfect fiancé? She was sick and tired and in no mood for something so trivial. She wanted him _out_; gone and away, but her lisp refused to speak. She just listened to him whisper to her.

"T-This entire situation… is only _my _fault. I am the only one responsible for this. And you – almost lost your life. I can`t…" He dropped his teary face into his cupping palms and sunk his digits into the blades of his spiky short hair, broken and crumbling.

For the first time in his life, Sai was terrified. Horrified that he was one step away to lose Sakura and that experience was the worst living nightmare. It woke him up like a cold shower in the burning sun of August. A rush of fever that bubbled into his system and made him more alert to things that he was indifferent to up until now.

He could have lost Sakura; his fiancé was in the hospital, waking up from a semi-comatose state. She had a large bandage winded around her forehead and multiple stiches. Olive bloodshot orbs trailed along the translucent liquid pouring into the column of her protruding veins through the IV attached to her.

She looked pathetic, weak, wasted and deplorable.

And yet… her skin has never been so pale, so pearly, so fragile and so untouchable. She was still so beautiful and so tiffany; like an angel.

How stupid he has been to never acknowledge the value of the precious emerald that life has put into his way. His fiancé… Haruno Sakura soon to be a _Tanaka _was superb.

She was amazing, she was alive, he hasn't lost her, life hasn't taken her from him and… Sai will be damned if he lost her now that he has opened up his eyes to how blind he has been.

He wanted to commit suicide thinking about the damage he has inflicted into her and brought her on that predicament. He has been a fool; the worst of the brutes. She had the right to kill him with stones, rip off his soul and throw it in the Seven Horizons to perish into nothingness for how he treated her.

Never in his life has Sai been happier than in the moment when the medic told them that she opened up her eyes. She was alive.

She _is _alive! She is before him… she had her back on him. Her shoulders tensed, stiff, quivery and defensive; her stance was alert and on the edge.

She was scared. He made her scared.

She was crying silently, he could tell.

"It is too late to tell me what I would like to hear, Sai." Sakura finally found her voice. It was guttural and throaty and hoarse, but the words she dropped were indomitable, implacable and so _cold_.

For the first time since he met her, Sai`s fiancé never sounded so emotionless and stoic like it wasn't even her talking but a lifeless puppet.

" It is always too late to demand something that wasn't destined to be yours, to begin with." _I… was never yours to being with and you were never mine, Sai Tanaka._

"It is such a pity that my eyes have only opened up when I experienced the terrific consternation of losing you. Up until now, I have been blind to the angel you were."

He had no idea of where were those poetic confessions coming from but Sai couldn't stop his lips to talk when his chest crumbled like winter sky during an arctic storm and he has been coursed by the worst pangs of anguish and horror.

Horror that he will _lose _her because of him; because he didn't know how to value her.

And to think that she was… she_ was_–

She didn't want to cry, his words weren't reaching her, but her heart moistened with the tears she refused to praise his words with.

Words that oozed of a sincerity that were an alien concept if entangled with his face and personality, she didn't want to hear any word of regret, she didn't need to know the taste of acid remorse seeping from the crevice of his open cut bleeding heart,

and she definitely didn't want to know the notion of regret highlighted by a pair of lost lifeless lamb olive eyes, which were, for the first time since they met, looking, praising and acknowledged his presence beside him, why was he looking like her as a sinner atoning in front of the ineffable iconic image of the divinity, since she has long estranged her thoughts from a possible bright life they couldn't have?

Why couldn't he see the love in her eyes yearning for another man whose grace has only been paralleled by the amour he had for her?

_Go away Sai! Leaven me alone! I died once and paid the price of being free from you!_

She has stepped into the Styx River and floated back on the bank of the living, virtually and metaphorically dying once to break the contract of being his future bride until Dead do them apart. She was finally free to fly from her mother`s clutch and the nightmare of her engagement with a man that didn't deserve any of her tears.

"You never had my heart, Sai. And you will never will."

"You know what they say: Never say never, Sakura." He was getting desperate minute by minute. Sakura hasn't once turned around to face him yet Sai was motionless.

He wanted to encircle her hospital bed, clasp her hand into his own, hold her dearly, embrace her and kiss her tenderly like he never did –like he knew she deserved- but her reticence and coldness have stripped him of power.

How ironic… he always been brutal with her and imposed her with his force, yet now his legs quivered, his knees trembled and refused to move. He was powerless.

"They... dint know you like I do and no one knows the things you did to me. I gave you plenty chances to come into my heart, but you walked away without stopping for a moment and acknowledge the hand that I stretched towards you. You heart me beyond words. I don't have the gentility to forgive you in this lifetime Sai, let alone offering you another chance to redeem yourself into my eyes."

Sakura barely had any energy left in her body to even lie spread on her hospital bed, cuddling under the extra blanket that a nurse has brought to her upon her polite request and she didn't know how was she in any condition to carry on such a philosophical serious conversation with Sai but she had to finish it once and for all.

Because the moment she has stepped in Sasuke`s home before she run away for a thing that she hasn't comprehend yet and when she found out about… she has made up her mind: she will _end _this charade.

She will leave Sai. She was not too late. Life has given her another chance to live and be happy with the one she loved and cherished and loved her back. She almost lost everything and the chance to be with Sasuke.

And if God has given her a second chance to make things right, she will do it right.

She was resolute. No more games and second guesses. No more fright. She wasn't alone in that game. _He _will never leave her alone.

Sakura knew that Sasuke will soon be back from Brazil and the moment he hears the news, he will be like a bolt and in front of her hospital room in a heartbeat and then she will make her decision be known: she will accept his proposal and leave her fiancé, her mother and her current life of misery and accept to be his _wife._

"We are over. In fact... we never had a start to begin with." Because no matter how much she struggle to get their relationship on the right track and built something tangible, durable and beautiful together, he was never willing to cooperate. They were over before they had a start.

They were over in the moment when Sasuke ha stepped into her life. "I am merely walking away, void of any promise that might have intertwined our paths, at some moments in time."

"No... this I can`t do." Her merciless toneless voice has urged Sai to rose from the chair that was dragged to her bed, stand on the edge of the mattress and gently, softly with a delicacy that he never had in her presence he tapped her shoulder and gave her a little squeeze ". You can hate me, you can punish me as you deem fit, you can take all your hate and redirect it all to me until I die bleeding, but don't leave my side. If you are not there...I can't return to that house."

She was crying at that point, but because his words were suffocating her, putting an unnecessary amount of pressure that she tried to alleviate and spread her wings free from the silver chains that kept her restrained, crushed, hollow, broken and miserable.

Sasuke was the azurite sky enfolding before her eyes, expecting her to elevate her spirit from the ground where worms and snakes were squirming and fly free like a graceful crane.

"You have no right... to claim or demand anything from me, Sai. For as...it is way too late and too futile to attempt to mend anything."

There have always been two parallel roads, destined to never join. She finally gained her courage to turn around and his face urged her own tears to spill faster.

"You have your own woman to give you what I couldn't. If you feel even a tiny particle of guilt for everything that you have put me through Sai, do me at least one favor and forget me. Erase my existence from your one and let us both find happiness beside the people who deserve and cherish our company. You made me go through hell and left me with scars that will probably never heal or fade away, but in the end, I am not able to wish the worst to you, nor hate you. We were just victims of our own inner inability and cowardliness to stand for ourselves and fight for our beliefs, leaving the others decide for our destinies. Let's be happy from now on Sai. Let's do us this favor. We both deserve it. Even you." Contrary to what he might believe Sakura wasn't vengeful.

No she just wanted liberation. She wanted to be free and happy, she deserved it. Move on and live her life; a life of love and accomplishment in the company of her dear ones. People who deserved to be loved and people she wanted in her way.

So she didn't wish bad to Sai even after all the harm he has done to her. Sakura just wanted him out of her life.

And Sai had to understand that: he was too LATE. Even if repentance was visible in the way his olive orbs were luscious with tears that never poured for her, she knew it and he knew it that they were _too late_ in everything.

"Don't talk like that, even if it might not look like it and even if I know you are entitled to think the worst of me, to mark me as the epitome of the worst of fiancés… I don't think I will make it without you, Sakura."

He was adamant in telling her everything that has been haunting him for the past three days. He couldn't let her go like that without knowing how he felt.

Even Sai knew that he had to fight for her; be a man and apologize for everything, drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness.

"I didn't realize how important part of my existence you have become. If God would show me the way to bring back what I took from you back, I will see my soul to the Devil in a heartbeat to return that virtue to you and even so, you are still a flower. An angel, a graceful bud, just like your name. You never lost your ineffable Sakura, even if I spat on the porcelain fragility and the beauty of your kind heart, you are still iconic. And it is this image of you I want to preserve and cherish all my life, with your accord. Please don't go on without me. I am sure you can still find a tiny place for me in the chest of your heart and nest me inside."

Heavens, there were tears shimmering into his olive jet eyes and it was an image that thorn Sakura in half, no her resolve didn't sway, her love for Sasuke has transcended the peak of intimacy and became transcendental and celestial, he had her heart,

her body, her spirit, her soul and mind, so she wouldn't stray from him or chose Sai over him, for anything, but she broke.

It was that sincerity that she should and hoped from Sai from the beginning and witnessing his outburst and his crumbling walls and apathy brought to light the fragility and vulnerability has overwhelmed her and caught her out of guard.

"It was _my_ child you were carrying damn it! And I almost lost both of you because of my blindness and my stupidity! My offspring, my blood and flesh was budding inside your womb Sakura...tis...I go crazy thinking about it!"

He was desperate his eyes were unfocused glossy and pleading she wanted o cry along, cry with him, cry at the implication of his words, words that were the reflected mirror of Sasuke's, but unlike the gallant superior Uchiha, Sai was not entitled to claim those feelings on her.

Sasuke was. It was Sasuke's child and she belonged to him. Sai had not partake in that, he was only living a chimera and fate has damned him into leaving him torture himself for a thing that he wasn't accountable for.

At the mention of the word child every single fragment of patience and self-control has burst like a volcano and erupted in a flame of burning staccato tears of anguish, despair and agony and she hollered.

"Stop it! You know noting, I am not your possession and there is no part of me to belong to you! Stop torturing me, your presence is poisonous!" She shouted at him startling both. In his rash, Sai didn't get the meaning of her words. That she had someone else.

Upon briefing her about the injuries caused by her car accident, the doctor has given Sakura a news that sliced her heart in two and left her without oxygen like she was still sinking into the water: she was _pregnant_.

But what was more terrific was his usage of the Past Tense; with an apologetic sympathetic figure, the doctor has told her that she was two months pregnant and because of the accident, she has _lost _her unborn baby due to a miscarriage.

She was pregnant without even knowing! That was the reason why Sakura has cried for one day non-stop and refused to get any visits. She couldn't take that news and get used to the fact that for two months she wielded life within her.

A child was being born and she… failed to protect him. Heck, she had no idea! Of course, Sai and her mother have been announced and they all took the news just as bad as Sakura herself.

"Forgive me." he gripped her wrists in a feeble grip and his trembling hands were matching her voice and the gleam into his eyes that were locked on herself His desperation and words were burning her ming and hurt her.

"Even now, I am still only able to bring you more tears and suffering." He inched closer to her, but Sakura leaned backwards, getting away from any closeness. She didn't want him anywhere near her.

"This is all I have. My words and this inability to tell you the right things." Sai leaned his sweaty forehead on her hands that he was holding, breathing to her. "Teach me how to love you Sakura."

It was too late for that; he was too late to make or ask for anything from her. She gave him numerous occasions to redeem and show her his love or welcome her into his life. He was lucky that she hasn't sued him because Sakura didn't wish for anything bad to happen to anyone.

She knew that deep inside him, Sai was not a bad man. He was a rebel artist spirit, he lived into his own extravagant exclusive world surrounded by his paintings and his social circle of artists and she was never welcomed there.

It was too late.

She belonged to another man. And that time, when she gets out of the hospital… she will belong to him fully and rightfully forever and unite her destiny to him. To the only one she will every be capable to yen for and that was _Sasuke._

That hospital bed was the altar where they will pay their farewells and say goodbye. _Goodbye forever, Sai Tanaka. I was never yours. _

"I try to embrace every chance I get to stray myself from all the malevolence and I might as well start with the things that keep me chained to them." She detached her hands from his with a quick harsh snap and shot him an indomitable cruel hard stare. "And that is _you_."

"Y-You mean-"

"Yes, Sai. I am leaving you. A step I should have taken a long time ago, but somehow... I was foolish enough to think that the good things in life are waiting for me to go and grab them. It is a painful lesson in life to remember. Never wait for the next train to come, since you can easily lose the track of time and miss the _last_ one."

She crossed her arms upon her chest, brushing away the tears in her eyes with the palm of her hand. She will not cry for him, she shed enough tears entangled into a romance so impossible and toxic. It was her only chance to get away from him and she will grasp it.

"I have been waiting far too long alone in your station, Sai. It is time for me to move on and be happy." She did t say happiness because she already found it but Sai didn't pick it up he was too shocked.

"Sakura... Listen, I know I have not been a role model fiancé and all the things I did to you..." Desperation was getting visible into his eyes that were always void of any sentiments he might have for her but his unpardonable illicit behavior has been enough for Sakura to reach a peak that couldn't get her higher on the top of misery and suffering.

"are unpardonable. You are entitled to sue me but you never did it. I understand it now what a treasure has been waiting for me and I was too blind to see it."

The shame, the guilt, the self-blame and damnation was tearing him apart. The fact that he has reached for her hand and she flinched away from his touch like he was acid brought more tears into his eyes. "Sakura with all the artistic vision I poses... I failed to see a masterpiece. And it was you."

"Please stop, this is so irrelevant now."

"No, please listen, I want you to know this so that you will not add to the amasses disdain you feel for me –"

"Don't discredit yourself too much Sai." She turned to laugh humorlessly at him and for a moment a fling of hope fluttered into his chest but she crushed it in a moment with her next acerbic statement. "There`s no way I can loathe you more than I do."

Sakura turned her head to face her window, being resolute. "you should be thankful that I am not suing you for rape because I don't want to be responsible of destroying your life like you did to me, even if you deserve to be charged and sentenced to jail."

"Sakura, I –"

"Leave. Go to your parents, go to your family, friends and…_ her_." Upon seeing the horror immixed with confusion dancing on his face, the emerald eyed woman turned her head over her shoulder to give him a cavalier side smirk that she unconsciously picked from Sasuke.

"What… you think I was so stupid? Yahiko Konan… your nude model is in reality not _just _a muse… she is also your whore."

In his bewilderment and surprise to find out that Sakura knew, Sai failed to notice that Sakura`s tone didn't hold any remorse and she wasn't condemning him for having a mistress because Sakura wasn't a hypocrite.

How could she damn Sai for cheating on her with his model Konan when she was doing just the same, having a secret affair with Uchiha?

At least, she had the decency not to bring Sasuke into their house and fuck him ruthlessly and love him passionately under the same roof where her fiancé lived, like he did in the attic multiple times.

Well… it was not like Sakura could have withstand to spend anymore minutes than necessary into Sai`s house and the exquisite Uchiha refused to step into that 'rat hole' like he named it which was laughable and ironic because Tanaka Sai`s mansion was anything but a tiny hole.

Of course, it was insignificant in comparison. In fact… there has never been comparison between her deplorable fiancé and her lover, they were from different _worlds_.

"Sakura, you have to trust me Konan is nothing more than a good la –"

Trust him? How can he be so cynic? Sakura`s chartreuse orbs filled with hate for this man who was eying her like he has just discovered Nirvana. HE had no right to look at her like that.

"I don't care what does she represent for you Sai. We are over. Absolutely… over. I have never been more miserable in my life than living with you nor have I been more ashamed by myself to be called your fiancé. This is a laughable joke. I don't love you and you don't love me so why carry on with this charade? This buffoonery will end up in this very moment Sai." She let her head fall on the pillow behind, as she closed her emerald orbs.

"No, please you have to believe me Sakura I love–"

Oh no, he will _not _talk about love in her presence; Sai was not legitimate to talk about amour or even spell that word to her.

Words that were solely reserved for… "–Go away. Get away from me, from my life. I want to be happy Sai. I deserve to be free from you–"

To prove her point, much to Sai`s horror, Sakura forced his engagement ring off her finger and resisted the impulse to bang him against the door. Instead, she held the golden band in her opened palm expecting him to take it, he didn't.

"From this promise that never had my genuine consent… I give them all back to you." He was staring incredulously at the ring; she was breaking up with him.

Sakura wants to live him forever; the reality has slapped Sai against his cheek like a tornado and it hurt like Hell.

He never saw her so determined, so resolute, so implacable like Sakura was another person; someone _else _woke up from that comatose and not his servile scared naïve beautiful fiancé.

This woman was independent and hated him with all the amount of passion that one was capable of hating. It was all amassed into her blizzard emerald eyes and honestly… it scared Sai.

She has been pregnant with _his _child; a child that has been the fruition of him forcing himself on her like a brute and now he is paying the price for the transgression.

He couldn't… the fact that he could have been the father of that child who didn't have a chance to see the daylight has broken him irremediably.

The guilt and the pain was drowning him and even if Sakura probably didn't want a child with him, Sai`s sense of fatherly protection for the unborn child was a cruel wake up call. He has been so irresponsible. No wonder she didn't want to forgive him.

He kept on staring at the ring. "No… please give me an ultimate chance to make it up to you Sakura."

"Why? Why should I? Why should I trust your words now Sai? What for? What good will it do? Will it give me back the tears I cried because of you? All you did was laugh at me, humiliate me, abuse me, _rape _me and tarnish my dignity. You didn't _respect _me Sai. And such definition of a man that doesn't know how to be gentile to a woman that is supposed to become his wife… will never have my _heart_."

"Don't say this, I know I did you enough harm to last for a lifetime but it is precisely that the reason why I want to make it up to you and give you all the happiness that I didn't have the chance to give until now."

"If you want to alleviate the guilty conscience, then go and pray to God to forgive you. I know I never will nor do I want you. Like I said before, you should be grateful that I am not throwing you in jail to pay for all the crimes. Now go away and forget about me Sai Tanaka. I never want to see you again. Your presence is harming me."

The tone in her voice was tired and apathetic. Sakura has overused all the energy she has conjured to talk to Sai and tell him everything that was on her mind.

He was too powerless to such a fierce resolution of breaking their engagement to inquire about the circumstances that led to her accident; he knew from the Police`s report that Sakura hasn't run away to spend her days with her friends Ino or Naruto; he knew for a fact that she wasn't visiting any relative and she had no acquaintances of that he was aware of in that area of the outskirts of the town.

He was too petrified by her declaration to question about her whereabouts and whose car she crashed since hers and his were in front of his home.

They were all irrelevant now. He only wanted to get her back but her stretched palm with the shining ring was still flashing before him waiting to be taken back.

"If you repent for your sins, you will let me go Sai."

He shut his eyes as tears were freely falling on his high pale cheeks. His fingers were on autopilot; they leaned to caress her own face and feel the softness of her skin, being as gentle as a soft breeze. She cocked her head to deny his touch. She felt sick and insulted by that touch, she didn't want him.

He understood. His shaky hand fisted around her engagement ring when it made contact with her warm palm and she immediately retracted her own hand from brushing over his.

"I am so sorry Sakura. For everything that I have done. I wish I could take it all back and turn back time to love you like you deserve."

"But you don't have that power." She smiled triumphantly at him in a way that even stunned Sai. He saw liberation, freedom and comfort in the way she strayed from him. He saw her genuinely _happy_. Sakura was happy for liberate herself from him.

"I will wait for you Sakura. I can wait a lifetime for you to change your mind and forgive me. For a last chance… I will be patient."

It never crossed Sai`s mind that Sakura might have another man and this is why he didn't say 'I will_ fight_ for you' with another man. In his mind, he didn't have a rival.

"You will wait in vain. Once I am out of this hospital, I will be forever out of your life. Don't hope Sai. I will never be yours. I will never love someone like you who has no sense of dignity, no shame and no boundaries." No feelings. "Goodbye."

"Think about it…" He cast his olive orbs on her tummy that was concealed by the blankets where they lingered before he pressed the knob on her door and breathed to her. "Our child… our flesh and blood–"

She let her tears fall unrestrained when the familiar click of the closing door reached her eyes and sobs wailed from her quivering lips.

Outside the hospital room, three people were bloody nervous and waiting for some answers. Sai only acknowledged them keeping his head cast down and his teary eyes hidden behind the short raven spikes that fell on his forehead.

"Sai–"

"Honey, how is–"

He shook his head slowly once, turned his back on them and left, leaving three pairs of eyes shot weary glances among them and to his retracting back. In his clasped fist, there was Sakura`s wedding ring and she has given it back to him.

They were _over._

* * *

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.

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* * *

**II.**

* * *

She was thankful that she chose to wear that ring as well because she got the perfect chance to give it back.

So she slipped her fingers into her hospital gown to reveal the necklace that she wore and unclasp the hook to take off the heavy pendant hanging on it.

It was another ring that she had attached to it – Sasuke`s ring of engagement. She smiled genuinely as tears were overflowing along the outline of her princess cheeks but those were not tears of anger. They were tears of freedom.

Never in her life has Sakura felt more liberated of a harm that in the moment when Sai stepped out of her hospital room with the ring he gave her in his hand.

Taking away his empty promises.

She quickly slick the breathtaking ring on her fingers seeing how it fit her slim digit like a drop of water falling along her skin, being perfect and covering the red circle that Sai`s too tight band marked her.

That was the ring she had to wear; the symbol of their conjoined amour for each other was shining proudly on her hand in the form of a precious stunning diamond.

It was not astonishingly beautiful but also very meaningful.

She dropped her head to the pillow, closing her orbs and bathing her face in the timid rays of sun that were peeping from behind the dispersing clouds. The sun was shining on her street too.

* * *

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* * *

**III.**

* * *

There were two light knocks on the door of her hospital room that stirred Sakura awake from her slumber. Unconsciously, she fell asleep while gazing at the gemstone of the engagement ring embellishing her digit.

She didn't put it on until she didn't get rid of Sai because she didn't want him to meddle with her private life; an intimacy that had nothing to do with him.

"Hmm?" She fluttered her orbs opened while adjusting her stance so as to stand and lie against the pillow, addressing her visitor. She was expecting her mother Mebuki and even though she didn't want to see that woman, sooner or later she had to let her enter.

She was her mother after all and she couldn't deny her that right so she brushed a hand through her messy coral rose hair and decided to get over with.

God, she so didn't want to explain it to that woman who never acted like a matriarch the reason why she sent Sai out of her life… but she had to assume the consequences of her acts.

She had no regrets, Mebuki will never interlace with her life again.

"Come in, it`s open."

The door crept open slowly so as not to disturb the tranquil touch of the hospital room, mindful that it was an injured patient inside. Since when was Mebuki so concerned over her?

Only… it wasn't Mebuki. When the outline of the person that has slipped inside her room grew visible before her widened orbs, her breath hitched midway her chest and her heart burst out of her ribcage.

Words stammered along the way of her quivery lips. "S–Sasuke!"

Words couldn't start to explain the amalgamation of feelings that coursed through her upon seeing his gorgeous proud form enter her hospital room, closing the door behind him, taking his time to stroll to her bed.

He wasn't supposed to be there yet, his business meeting was supposed to last four more days but there he was, in all his suit glory in front of her, looking as serene and breathtaking as always.

"You are here." It didn't come as a question; it was relief and… a mysterious tension in her voice. An edginess that took Sasuke by surprise but of course, his relaxed visage gave nothing off.

No, he just advanced towards her and forgetting about the spot that Sai has occupied earlier, he took a sit on the side of her bed, immediately his body weight pressing on her mattress, as the masculine spiciness of his intoxicating perfume coated her in a world of dreams.

She missed his presence like crazy. It was exactly Sasuke the one she yenned to see so much and he was there. How did he find out about her accident?

"I am sorry for being so late,_ love_." He spoke as velvet as the summer wind, while he brought his fingers to the crown of her head to brush away some exotic locks of her coral hair away off her face, caressing her skin.

Sakura automatically leaned into the cup of his palm, looking into his onyx eyes. Eyes that shone like black sapphires and sought for his lips. He happily pressed a delicate kiss upon her mouth and the love inflicted into his touch gave her all the courage in the world.

Her injuries were uncomfortable and painful, but his presence was morphine and aphrodisiac. "You have no idea how glad I am to have you here Sasuke. I missed you so much."

She prayed for him to come to her, she was so apprehensive that she will never see his beautiful face again or listen to the tranquility of his voice when she almost drown. It felt like providence to be in his arms.

"How did this happen?" He brushed his fingers over her opaline cheek, wiping away the tears that fell. He could decipher everything in her chatoyant emerald eyes and it broke him in half.

For a moment… a dreadful moment when he felt the pang in his chest, the burning in his mind and the constriction in his heart, Sasuke went insane. She almost left him.

Almost… had he been one blink of an eye later, she will not be here with him, looking at him with a stare so remorseful and guilty that it was pathetic and heartbreaking.

Almost…

Sakura let out a sight to calm her sobs. She knew what he was asking her and there was no reason not to tell Sasuke the truth.

The Uchiha didn't ask her about the accident because she was certain that he was already updated with the details –Sasuke was always an informed man.

He was asking her about the entire context, starting with the imbroglio that led to her crush. "He did... _that _again... taking advantage."

Upon hearing the words she was breathing to him, Sasuke`s sharp jaw clenched but his gentle hand continued to stroke her cheek. Tears were gathering at the corner of her eyes, aligning with the curb of her eyelashes.

She explained everything to him with that stuttered incoherent line alone because it wasn't a onetime occurrence but that time it almost cost her life.

Sakura knew that by the way Sasuke shut his eyes and exhaled deeply, rage bubbled within him and he barely control his fury and the need to seek her fiancé – ex-fiancé- and crack his jaw; but he had to be reasonable and supportive so of course he restrained himself form excessive behavior.

Of course, Sai has molested her again, she run to either his or his friends` home and in a fit of rage, she drove her car over the speed limit and got into a car accident.

Typical. Logically, before coming to visit, Sasuke has talked to the Police Officers and the doctor that treated her and found out about what happens, even though the details he will find out from Sakura herself.

Well… not that he actually _did _need someone else to fill him in about the accident, for he _had _been there the moment he felt the _light _within her _fade away_, but he had to maintain façade, plus he needed to know what the authorities knew so he could formulate a plan to charge Sai and make him pay for everything.

She has crushed her car into the _Amaterasu Lake_ that was few miles away from _his _home, so naturally Sakura has once again found shelter into his home.

And fortunately it was _his _vehicle the one she crushed because the Police has just go it out of the river and it proved to have saved her life, by being secluded enough to preserve oxygen for so long and keep the water away as much as possible, giving the man he rescued her enough time to come into his senses and save her.

Luck was by her side because he was a reputed medic to that hospital; currently he was in one of the rooms from the same hall, being treated. He has been his savior.

Well… naturally he needed a short _impulse _to regain consciousness and turn back from the _other side _where he was facing before being woken up and get alerted by the fact that he had to save the woman he threw into the river, for his own fault.

Sasuke was positive that he couldn't interfere in such a delicate matters, it was after all, the cycle of Life; each person had his own destiny, a fate that he couldn't meddle with nor was he allowed to face the implacable End that all of them had to face and that was the reason why he couldn't personally rescue Sakura from drowning but… there were certain clever subtle things he could do to help and one of them was to make sure that the other driver wasn't dead only fighting an imminent comatose state due to a head injury and stimulate his cerebral activity to help him remain conscious in addition to infuse energy into his injured body to benumb the pain.

The rest was a matter of medical conscience and morality. He just had to whisper to him and play at his conscience to _not give up _and try to resuscitate her and jump after her to save her.

Which he did on the last moment. Sasuke has helped Sakura elude and escape the _Death _once again, in the last moment, without actually interfering into the problems of the… _mortals_.

When she started to breathe again, he too felt tears amass in his crimson glowing orbs just like her rescuer did before passing away right beside her.

"Sakura, this absurd situation has to end now." He was delicate and calm as always, but Sakura depicted the resolute in his tone. He was dead serious and it came more like a silent threat: either she sued Sai or he will personally do it and throw his sorry ass in jail to rot for the rest of his days. "It is now...or never. You have to put an end to it, before is too let. Before something _worse_ happens."

_BEFORE I LOSE YOU for real… before it gets __**beyond **__my control._

"He has been here couple of hours ago Sasuke and I gave him the ring back." Obsidian orbs widened ever so slightly and his gaze dropped to her hand and indeed, it was not Sai`s engagement ring gleaming on her finger; it was _his_.

"I told him that we are over, that I don't want to see him again and even if he seemed to repent and begged me to forgive him, I told him that I will never get back to him and I want him out of his life. I am not going back to him, nor do I want to go back to his house."

He was surprised the determination in her voice as well as by her sudden declaration. She hasn't wavered stuttered even injured she was more determined and clear leveled than ever.

"Sakura this is… great. Although you should have left him a long time ago before something like this happened, I am pleased to hear about your decision to relinquish that harmful excuse of a relationship." Finally, she decided to break free and be happy.

Sasuke couldn't have been anymore thrilled by her resolution, Sakura needed to go through Hell and back in order to wake up for good and leave her fiancé.

What took Sasuke by surprise was that Sakura still she hasn't said anything about moving with him which was weird. She was holding back not only her tears from glistening before his scrutinizing intense shrewd glance but something else.

She confirmed his suspicion with the next sentence, and that was the reason why she kept silent, allowing her to gather her thoughts to form a coherence down her mind, patience being a virtue that was shining in his demeanor, so that was the reason why she never felt any pressure in his vicinity, like time wasn't passing, because he was never rushing her and the calmness was as tranquil as the lazy dance of cherry blossom petals strolling in the April`s warm wind.

But the pang in her chest was pooling a churning windmill of negative emotions

that was tearing her in half, feeling hit by a lightning bolt, shattering in million pieces of wood.

"Sasuke... there is... something ELSE that I want you to know." His beautiful exotic lover already felt the desperation in her trembling voice, collected down her throat in the form of a knot constricting her as her airways felt stuck with scorching flames making her chest burn and eyes get glossy like crystal mirrors scattering the pooling salty tears all over the aureate ring of her unfocused irises.

Her voice was strained and she SO didn't want to tell him, Sasuke could feel. His caress on the other hand never swayed form the purpose of conveying the love he had for her, not even once, as his hand was not listening to the unruly rhythm of her suffering heart.

"And what would that be that I need to know?"

Oh God, _how _should she begin to even utter those words to him? Sakura felt like the mattress was swallowing her and suddenly, she felt so small and stripped of any power before those superb black sapphire orbs of Sasuke; eyes that were patiently waiting for her to confess.

"The doctor dropped the news to me by this morning after a checkup. It was something that I wasn't aware of myself."

He didn't like the sound of it in the bit, it was that kind of heavy steel whisper that promised bad news, tears and judging by the was her nose got redder, her eyes were shimmering like gleaming diamonds mirroring the flicker of a candle and her aura turned remorseful, guilty shameful and vulnerable, so did he tucked a fallen rebel lock of hair behind her ear, inflicting the warmth of his warm palm into her system, along with his strong feelings for her.

She knew that he was silent because he was patiently letting her finish but for the first time she didn't want to tell him something.

Sasuke has always been her secret confident, the charming prince she kept trapped in between the pages of her princess journal, someone who was in her heart where the others couldn't penetrate and deny her the happiness she got from being with him so intimately and right.

She inhaled once and told him in a heartbeat before she lost the confidence and the voice. "I was p–pregnant."

He was the embodiment of self-control, his ridiculously flawless grace and the delicacy of his unruffled balmy demeanor and exquisite velvet manner of speaking were sublime and out of that world, bestowing her with the courage to be sublime for her, but when his hand froze along the softness of a rebel gentle curl, fallen down her shoulder, she swore she heard her heart slump down her knees, like a grieving wife before the cold tombstone of her deceased husband, shouting and crying at the name carved in marble, in golden letters, for him to come back and not leave her alone in the world, only getting the hymn of the blowing wind in return, as the unparalleled token of her lack of power to make destiny`s decision sway.

She couldn't take that silence, emerald eyes were averted to the window, where the first snowflakes were jolly strolling down the velvet coral sky, cursing the fact that she could see his silhouette reflected in the glass, but at least she wasn't seeing his obsidian eyes.

Cold judges dressed in black robes, giving their verdict and deciding her fate, she had her heart and her very being under his law.

Sakura HAD to say something –anything to break that silence. Silence which suffocating her more than the very DEATH. "I-It was b-because of the violent impact with the other car." How lame was that? Did it even matter anymore?

After a pregnant silence of five minutes he spoke again. "What matters the most is the fact that you are safe now." Another wave of heavy silence felt between then and Sakura eschew her gaze from his unable to look into his obsidian eyes; his hand caressed her cheek softly with an elegant touch that only he possessed and whirled a lock of her coral hair around his index finger, nearly whispering to her. "Does he know?"

That was the dreadful part that she didn't want to talk about. She weakly and awkwardly tensed her shoulders and shook her head. "Y-Yes."

He sighed. "Sakura, I am aware of the..._ circumstances_ of this unexpected pregnancy, but I think you did the right thing in telling him the truth. So that he will realize the amount of suffering he has brought you and the consequences of not caring to protect you and ultimately _his_... child."

It was venom and jealousy the way he said it, he couldn't –didn't want– to hide it but he wouldn't just be like her friends and give her stupid useless comforting advice, he was someone who sworn to be her spouse someday, so naturally he wanted to give a good advice.

But what she has said next made his heart stop ticking life, as time stopped the flow of time and moments were frozen on the limbs of the pendulum`s swings.

For a moment, just a single moment, his heart stopped beating and Sasuke almost forgot how it felt. "The child... was NOT Sai`s."

It was then... that moment, that CURSED moment when his hand froze and slide from her hair, falling on his thigh, his blacks sapphire gleam in his orbs swallowed the very essence of the sun`s blazing light, slightly widening, thin lips parted like he wanted to breath his consternation out but nothing else besides an invisible puff of air came out, and Sakura knew he was looking at her, seeking for the truth in her averted eyes, even if she wasn't looking at him.

Of course it wasn't, Sakura was not sleeping with Sai, and the moments when he forcefully overpowered her and had his way with her were rare and she ALWAYS took the morning-after pill and even did a pregnancy test out of paranoia making double sure she wouldn't carry his offspring, under no circumstance.

So the obvious answer was right before his eyes– "...but _mine_. You were carrying _my _child." It was ten times worse when hearing it from him, never once has Sakura heard him speak so soft, yet not tender, but puzzled, blown away, it clearly took him by surprise, he was

trying to mask his shock because he would never create havoc and more panic in a hospital in the presence of a woman he loved, in such a delicate mental and physical state, aware of her own distress, but it was a limit for his unparalleled self-discipline, balance and restraint.

The fragments of the entire implication of her words were ricocheting from him to her and back, as their thoughts collided and shattered.

That unborn child, was not the product of abuse, tears, shouts and ultimately a mistake. It was the bud of their genuine love, it was supposed to be a miracle by default, not a reason to cry. In his haste to filter that piece of a mind blowing information through the barriers of his mind, Sasuke hasn't realize that she was openly crying and he inwardly cursed his stupidity and oblivion.

That was a woman who loved him dearly and who was dancing on the strings of life, barely escaping from a violent car crush and drowning, finding out that she has just lost a child she didn't know she was carrying, of the same man that was acting like a pubescent kid on his first wet dream, while in reality, the situation was calling for his manly instinctive self-government and restraint, in front of a sensible broken woman.

The look in her face tore him even worse than her words. And the dread surging through him when he realized that he could have lost both of them, made him gulp once, Adam apple bobbling while alleviating a knot forming down his throat.

"I-I am s-so sorry Sasuke..." Her voice was strained, her shoulders stiff, her fingers curled around the rim of the blanket she was dragging upon her tummy, like in a vain attempt to protect something she couldn't tend or keep, seeking shelter warmth and comfort, feeling the walls around her turn into a cold cruel chamber of torture.

For the first time she hated that silence, it screamed the truth, it was mocking, cruel and it hurt her, it was laughing and pointing its haughty finger towards her, showing how bad she screwed.

"Say something... anything!" She found herself rising her voice but her mind wasn't hear nor processed anything, her mouth was screaming what was on her heart.

"Just... don't stay silent." She still hasn't faced him, she couldn't, her eyes were on her lap, dropped, while her long tresses were veiling her face and shoulders, creating a soft curtain between her and the world. She could only hear his breaths, heart rate escalade, either ways she would have sworn he left the room.

And when she heard the shift and the low sound of ruffled bed sheets, she almost chocked on a painful sobbed that escaped her lips. He wasn't leaving, was he?

Because if he did, she swore she would die or even go as far as to do something stupid and desperate as taking her own life, if necessary, but she knew she won't survive any single moment out there without Sasuke.

And definitely not after what has happened. And that was why her mind was set on autopilot, while he natural survival instinct made her jerk her head up to cling on the edge of desperation and try to stop him from leaving.

But he didn't leave. How could that ever crossed her mind? What Sasuke did was to simply turn around so that he would lay his back on the headrest, tug on the edge of the blanket that Sakura was clinging on for dear life so it would come loose and envelop them both, folding his right hand around her shoulders and bring the weeping woman with the eyes like the crystalline exotic sea to lay into his arms.

Sakura didn't wait for anymore silent invitations to seek for the outline of his broad chest, coiling a hand around his chest, as her cheek fell on the swell of his rippled bulky pectoral, above the hollow of his rapping heart, while the other found shelter around his heck, into the intricate maze of his raven silk hair.

The warmth his embrace and skin was oozing immediately reverberated through all her cold almost lifeless body. "This was not your fault. It was entirely mine. I should have been more observant, more careful and more importantly, I should have protected you."

_How was it possible for HIM to miss something so HUGE? How come he hasn't realized that Sakura was pregnant with HIS child? Why?!_

It was HIS car she was driving, from HIS house and she has lost HIS child. So how was he able to say such things as he meant it, her nose was nuzzled in the crock of his nock, where his pulse was pumping through her skin, making her feel more comfortable as he was sharing his life with her, breathing at unison. She arched her neck to look at his face as he spoke words that brought her comfort but made him feel his share of pain on her own heart.

Sasuke was looking straight into her eyes and it caused a squall into the pits of her stomach. Sakura couldn't read his mind, she couldn't read that glance, it was indecipherable, like he was not talking to her like he was telling something she didn't understand, like his words had other meaning, she couldn't tell, she was stupid, she felt powerless, his eyes were a stranger to her, like they didn't even belong to him, but to the darkness, to a parallel universe, a black hole swallowing light, a galaxy expanding, without a sun, but yet his hold on her was firm, comforting, reassuring, strong, that power that made her heart flutter, mind steadier and knees to flicker, he was serious, confident... but hurt.

Sakura couldn't stand to see him like that. Uchiha was not reproachful not accusing her of anything, but only a vulnerable man who has just found out that his secret lover, a woman who was engaged with someone else, has lost his child in a car crush.

That exposed and unguarded sight of him was so uncharacteristic, Sasuke was always the man in control, he was ten steps ahead of the game, he was reading people like they were leaves attached to his branches, he felt the drift and hesitation in their breaths, and he deciphered the code of their minds and broke the barrier of their eyes.

Sasuke never left himself exposed and liable in any situation, not when he was making love to her, not even when he was in a sensitive position, has Sasuke abandoned his guard.

But in front of that news, even he couldn't have been anesthetized and unimpressionable. Before his lips could quiver her fair share of guilt he silenced her by speaking first. "You are not alone in this Sakura. We are going to work this out. I am here with you."

She nodded energetically, as he placed a kiss on the crown of her hair, while she muttered a weak heartedly teary 'thank you' against his skin. His hand was strolling along her the column of her skinny back, scurrying under her hospital gown.

Her skin was bubbling like sparkling champagne and she shuddered under his touch, he was leaving tingles along her skin, lulling her and calming the flow of her tears, she shut her exhausted eyelids, knowing that he would not leave her. He promised he never will, how could she has doubted him?

If Sasuke was there, Sakura knew she was safe. He would protect her from anyone so she could abandon herself to the realm of slumber and rest her tired body and clear her mind.

"I will not allow you to go back to his house." She was not angry at his possessive selfish comment to protect her and he was firm in not leaving her get hurt. Sakura knew better than to consider him arrogant.

"I am not. As soon as I am being discharged from here, I am moving with you." She should have done it an year ago she should have listened to him and nothing like that would happen, maybe they would have been married and their child would have lived, they would be in happy tears of joy and not grieving.

"Good. Do you want me to call out my secretary and have your things packed and moved to my home?"

"No, it`s fine. I don't want to cause havoc and have mother and Sai find out about us. This doesn't concern them, but me and me only. I will ask Ino to help if this is ok with you."

"Aa."

"Are you mad? You have all the right. I couldn't protect our child. I should have known, I want to become a doctor, but I didn't notice."

"I am not mad at you, Sakura. You had a car crush. This wasn't your fault. It was an accident. What matters is that you are here, alive and you have accepted to be with me, be only mine. And we can have children in the future."

He let his hand slide from the small of her back, along the back of her arm winded around his torso, interlacing their fingers together, thumb brushing along the outline of the golden band she wore around her ring finger.

HIS ring. She wore his ring. Which only meant she was not coming from the house that she shared with Sai.

"Are you trying to… propose?" Sakura cracked a small genuine smile to her while Sasuke smirked down at her in return, rubbing the diamond of the ring then her finger.

"Considering all the things that have transpired between us, is it necessary anymore?"

"Of course. This is a moment in life that all the women dream of and imagine ever since they are little girls, daydreaming and waiting for the Charming Prince in shiny armor to come on a white horse and unlock the golden lock of their tower, you know?" She told as a matter of fact.

"Hn." he whispered down her ear. "Should I built you a tower then and wear an armor?" The thing that Sakura found iconic was the fact that if Sasuke asked her if she wanted a tower, she knew he could have bought her or build her a freaking castle if she asked for it.

It was both funny and frightening. She felt so at ease, peaceful, connected and natural in his presence, that most of the times Sakura forgot who she was entangled with. She was having an affair with one of the

richest man alive and the power and influence that came with the aforementioned reputation was both thrilling and fascinating her. soon, she would be stepping into his world and stay there not as a secret affair, but as an official fiancé. They will definitely make all the headlines.

"I already have everything I have been dreaming of. I was afraid to lose you and you would leave when I told you."

"I told you I will never leave you unless you were the one to tell me so, Sakura. You from all the people should konw that I am a man of my words."

"I am sorry to have made you worried and cut your trip short. You won't have problems at work, will you?"

"Don't worry about that." He assured her as Sakura cuddled into his arms. A comfortable silence fell between them. The sky cleared and an infinite blue made place for warm sun rays to sneak into her hospital room and make it glow.

* * *

_**::In the grace of his intangible beauty ,**_

_**she was a suave crane`s wing dancing on Paradise`s limbs::**_

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_Knock knock_

She has almost fell asleep again lulled by Sasuke`s steady heartbeat and he promised to stay with her until later on.

But the knock on her hospital room made her stir and for a moment she grew afraid that it was her mother or Sai`s parents or even worse Sai himself the one to seek for permission to come and visit, but a firm supportive hand that was unfolded around her shoulders soothed her immediately.

She didn't have to be scared anymore. Since Sasuke was there by her side, no one will every lay a finger on her again, nor will they have the courage to stand up in front of him.

But she almost sighed in relief when a boisterous feminine voice shouted from the other side, dripping with worry and impatience. _"Sakura? It`s me, Ino. Are you awake? Can I come inside?"_

"I-Ino... Ino! Yes, please come in." She knew that her honey haired best friend was dead worried for her and it was the truth.

Someone might have called Ino, probably her mother to let her know about her condition and next time she knew, Ino jumped into her car, ditched the last two courses and dashed to the hospital to make sure that her friend with her Hawaii exotic look was safe and sound.

Because if anything happened to Sakura, Ino would die of sadness.

A blonde blob pokes inside and a sheepish honest smile bloomed on her face when Ino realized that her extreme worry was unjustified.

Apart from her weakened pale state and the IV attached to her hand, Sakura was alive and smiling back to her.

"Forehead, you have no idea how bad you scared me!" She closes the door and advanced hips swaying as her ponytail fluttered behind her back a basked with fruits in her hands, advancing to her best friend who shifted under the blanket and adjusted her position so that her back was on Sasuke's chest.

She wasn't ashamed of Ino seeing her so intimate with the Uchiha, but she was polite and didn't want Ino to feel bad, knowing that the blonde was not actually familiar with Sasuke, even though Sakura has introduced her to her onyx eyed lover, and she didn't want Ino to be uncomfortable feeling very grateful for her visit. Out of all the others, it was Sasuke and her friends the ones she would like to see.

"How are you feeling honey?" Ino came by her side, dropping her clutch on the chair and leaning forward to pull her friend on a bear hug, kissing her cheeks.

"Better now thanks. Slightly tired and dizzy, but I will be fine."

Unsure of how she should response since the blonde wasn't quite acquainted with Sakura`s secret lover Ino gave a curtly nod to Sasuke who did the same in return, being very polite, yet cold and imposing. "Miss Yamanaka…"

"Hello... Sasuke." Gosh, wasn't that pretty awkward? Ino fought the urge to swallow hard and act like an imbecile. It was even awkward to say his name.

Secretly, Sakura but back a snort. That was so ridiculously funny and it was always amusing to see the forward audacious independent woman Ino Yamanaka stutter and get uncomfortable. She was too cute for her own good.

Truth was, she felt like transgressing their intimacy, but she just HAD to find out everything about Sakura`s accident.

"God, I came rushing down here the moment I have found out." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and took a sit, holding her friends hand and inwardly her heart squealed and melted seeing how Sasuke discreetly kept on stroking her hair, it was a longing scene and her friend seemed happy. she was relieved, Sasuke would take care of her.

"Mebuki-san has called my mom and she told me to come. She is busy now with some important clients, but she promised to drop by the moment she has time. She asked me to bring you some fruits. How did it happen?"

"An idiot has come from the opposite side and was driving beyond the speed limit. I am not sure over the details… it happened too fast and it was pitch dark and raining so hard… but I think that he lost the control of the steering wheel in the curb."

She rubbed her forehead while trying to keep her voice steady and detached as images from the accident filled her mind.

"Next thing I know, the airbag was in my face and the impact sent me flying on the river. The last thing I remember is screaming for help because the door was stuck and I was sinking and couldn't open. I am very lucky because the man who crashed my car is a medic that jumped after me, rescued me and performed CPR. I own him my life I guess."

"Damn Sakura, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have let you go home alone after everything that happene–"

"–No, no." Sakura interrupted because she was sick of people taking responsibility just like Sasuke. "What are you saying? I insisted on leaving. You have tried to talk me into spending one more night in your house, but I had to go. Your grandparents came to visit, I couldn't be a bother to you and your parents."

She will never allow her accident to turn into a drama now just because Ino felt culpable. It was no one`s fault that she has wandered through Sasuke`s personal belongings, found a photo album that he will eventually have to explain to her why was he keeping it a secret from her and… had those horrific visions about his family and mansion burning to the ground.

Because _that _nightmare was the reason why Sakura run out of his house. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been involved into the accident, but she was yet to confront Sasuke about that. Of course, Ino didn't have to know about such fine details.

"Stop saying that, how can you be a bother, forehead?" Then logic started to spin into the blonde`s head as a sudden thought strike through her head. "There is something that I don't get Sakura. I have seen your car in front of your house–"

"–It was Sasuke's car." She explained not leaving Ino to finish her sentence. "The one I crushed into the river."

"Oh... I didn't know, warui ne." The troubled look on the Yamanaka`s face and the hidden meaning behind her question didn't went unnoticed by Sasuke and Sakura. The rosette felt stupid for not catching it from the first time.

Sakura wanted to keep her relationship a secret from the others, but she had a car accident with a car that was not hers. That will only arouse more suspicion. Why was Sakura driving a luxury car? That was a question that will linger on everyone`s thoughts when the shock of her accident will make place for logic.

"I run to his home after Sai..." Sakura trailed the rest of the sentence, because she absolutely didn't had the power to say it again, so she only licked her lips to moisten them and closed her eyes, seeing Ino's eyes narrow into slits.

That intense stare even surprised Sasuke to see so much hate in the blondes reaction toeards Sai and he couldn't help but agree to her. So he concluded she knew everything from Sakura. "I tried to call you several times but I couldn't reach you."

"Shit, I didn't know, I am so sorry. Mom wanted us to show the ranch my dad has bought to our grandparents. You know we don't have signal there."

Sakura knew that Ino wasn't lying. She told Sakura about a Ranch in North that her family purchased and she even invited her friends there for a weekend.

"It's all right now, this is irrelevant now."

"Forehead, I don't want to be the one to break it to you, especially not now when you are in this state," The blonde Yamanaka turned bloody serious.

She aimed for Sakura`s hand, holding it tight and gave her a light squeeze, locking gazes to her emerald orbs. "but you must break up with that motherfuker right this instant. You have to kick the bloody bastard out of your life and make him pay for every harm he did to you!"

she was confused of why was her friend smirking at her. "I already did that Pig. Sai was here to visit me before Sasuke and you came and I told him everything that was on my mind, including the fact that I am done with him. I am leaving him. The moment I am discharged from here," she laced her fingers with Sasuke's –not coincidentally, it was the hand with the ring- and leaned further on his arm and Ino got the message immediately yet her baby blue eyes widened softly seeing how resolute she was. "I am never going back to his house."

"I know I should ask you where you will be staying, because I suppose you don't want to live with your mother anymore, and tell you that my door will always be open for you but…"

She took a quick peep at Sasuke looking straight into those obsidian eyes and she swore she saw a ghost of a smirk.

One that would send shivers and whether it was creepy or delight , she didn't know but made her edgy. "I see that it won't be necessary."

Sakura nodded and Ino couldn't believe how was she glowing even if she was in hospital and her face illuminated it was ethereal and abnormal she was truly happy. "I am moving with Sasuke."

"How will you break it to Sai? Don't get me wrong Sakura , is not that I am not glad to hear that you won't be suffering anymore because God only knows how much I itch to go and bitch slap him into the next century, but I am worried. I know what kind of man he is. Or rather... we don't know how will he react."

"I will never tell him because I am not obliged to give him any explanation regarding my life. I will simply disappear from his sight and sever all the connections."

"I supposed you won't carry on with that crazy plan you had now that you are done with him, will you?" Ino spoke cryptically, pointing to Sakura`s dangerous plan of leaving Sai in the day of their wedding, but thankfully Sakura shook her head no.

"No of course not. Not after all he has done. I just don't want to see him anymore nor do I think about revenge. Being on the verge of dying has opened up my eyes and made me realize that life is too short to waste it on hate and pay backs. I just want to be happy and spend the rest of my days in peace and in the company of the people I love."

"Then I am afraid I have another bad news for you. He is here with your mother and his parents. When I exited the elevator, I have seen them talking to a doctor, but I don't think they have seen me. My odds are that they were talking about you."

A worried glance traipsed to the raven haired Uchiha finding it so bizarre how he harbored no expression on his handsome face, not pulling a single muscles at the prospect of Sakura`s family and hurt ex fiancé being present there, like he didn't care, then back to her. "If they see the two of you together, than God only knows what might–"

Sai was vengeful and when he will realize the state of Sakura`s infidelity, he will go insane and his family will feel deeply insulted by the transgression and probably make a scandal, but before Sakura had the chance to panic and open up her mouth, someone stole the words from her mouth. "–He will do _nothing_."

It was shockingly Sasuke the one to interject. He was vehement and Ino knew the reason behind his arrogance and velvet lethal resolution.

Compared to Sasuke, Sai was a merely cockroach. A no one and so was his family. "Because _I _will not allow it." The unspoken word _anymore_ fell silently from his lips and even if Sasuke hasn't voiced it, everyone heard it.

"Sure… it`s good to know that my friend is safe–" Seriously, how could her friend be so casual around that man? Ino felt like the room was constricting and suffocating her.

Was it just because Sasuke`s presence was formidable by default or the fact that his presence there was unexpected and somehow jeopardized their hidden relationship or… something else that bothered the Yamanaka about that handsome billionaire?

His eyes… his pitch black eyes like polished chrome, his odd calmness and composure, his immensurable devotion towards an engaged woman like her rose haired friend… there was something that didn't sit right to Ino but she just couldn't tell exactly what.

Something was constantly ringing and ticking into her mind, alarming bells were ringing and her body was tensed and alert and even if Sakura herself couldn't say that her friend was bloody nervous, Uchiha seemed to read right through her and frankly it was scary as Hell.

The picture of the two of them cuddling in Sakura`s hospital bed was beautiful, romantic and emotional, but at the same time… eerie. And honestly, Ino felt like transgressing their privacy.

The obvious content written on her rose haired friend`s visage, Sasuke`s undecipherable features, the way the light was falling on their embracing silhouettes covering them in a fading glowing outline, the pastel colors of their faces, lips and their eyes that were both set on her, so tranquil, so peaceful, so serene and picturesque, so unperturbed and unrushed.

"Well, I think I should go now." Before she will make a fool of herself and offend her friend and Sasuke, Ino shot up from her sit trying her best not to look like the imbecile she felt and betray her inner tension, took her purse and chirruped, trying her best to smile. "You need rest and besides… I am leaving you with a more _pleasant_ company."

"You leaving me alrady? But you have just come and besides you are not a bother to me, Pig." Sakura squeezed the fine warm hand of her baby blue eyed friend, pouting comically at her making Ino giggle at her antics and alleviate some of the tension.

She couldn't believe she was thinking about such stupid things, what the heck was wrong with her?

"The doctor said to make the visits shorts for now." What a great excuse, but Ino wasn't lying. Sakura`s doctor told her visitors not to agitate and perturb the rose haired patient and that was the reason why Sai himself couldn't stay longer and claim his questionable love for her.

Of course, it wasn't Sasuke`s case. Not only the Uchiha knew all the doctors –he personally made sure that the best was tending Sakura- but she wouldn't have accepted him to leave her room. "And I have two courses of interior design in the afternoon… damn!." The blonde sighed exasperatedly making Sakura giggle in return.

Oh yeah, Ino loathed those classes because of the teacher and… "haha, don't try to justify yourself Pig, I _so_ knew that the reason why you don't want to go is because Shikamaru and Temari are also in the course and they will most likely stay together."

"Aish, don't even remind me, damn it! That wench must have cast some sort of a _spell _on him because he doesn't have eyes for any other woman!"

She gasped dramatically and Sakura felt sorry for her friend. Ino was very infatuated with Shikamaru but they were already a hot gossip among the other college students and rumors had that they moved together. "I hate her guts."

"Don't worry, I am sure that you will find someone better to love you soon." _Like I did. _As if on cue, the rosette tightened the hold she had around Sasuke`s arms that were hugging her chest, proving her point. "No need to remain entrapped into a fruitless one-sided love."

"Well yeah, you might be right."

"Ino there is something very personal that I need you to do for me."

Said sun haired woman instantly grew serious and listened carefully to what her friend had to instruct. By the sound of her voice and the weary approached, Ino suspected that it had to do with her mother and ex-criminal fiancé. "Anything for you dear."

"I will be discharged in two days and when I am out of this hospital, I will be moving to Sasuke`s permanently." Ino knew this and she was glad that her friend has decided upon such an important step in her life. Finally, Sakura wouldn't be running crying to her friend`s home to find shelter.

"I don't want my mother to find out because she is still obsessed with the idea of me marrying Sai and I don't want her to interfere with my plans. I need my clothes and personal belongings brought to Sasuke`s home, but I cannot go to his and my mom`s house to retrieve them personally for obvious reasons."

Ino immediately picked on the hidden message and the favor she had to do and instantly smirked. "So you want me to go to that asshole`s home and your mother`s, pack your stuff in absolute silence and bring them to your new home."

That was one of the reasons why Sakura loved Ino: her intelligence and perspicacity. She got the message all right.

"Precisely, yes Pig. Can you do it for me?"

The blonde snorted at her, taking her hand between her ones rubbing her skin gently, sisterly. "What do you mean if I _can_? Of _course _I will. Consider it done, sweetie."

"Thank you so much Pig. You are a treasure."

"Don't even mention it. You know you can always count on me for everything." The azurite eyed Yamanaka leaned forward to kiss the top of her friend`s head, brushing off a coral lock from her face, tucking it behind her ear.

"Are you familiar with the address?" Sasuke addressed his lover`s best friend, fighting the urge to smirk at the obvious edgy demeanor in her apparently strong aura. He had a suspicion that Sakura kept his address a secret from everyone including her friend but he had to make sure.

The woman was a true good friend for backing Sakura up and not reveal a word and for that Sasuke was grateful to the blonde.

Ino shook her head. "No."

"My assistant will contact you tomorrow for details. He will give you the directions to my home. Do you need assistance or a ride?"

"No, thank you. I will try to get the job done at first hour in the morning when both Mebuki-san and Sai will be out of their homes."

"Mother is currently staying with some boyfriend she found in Suna and he came to visit her." Sakura explained already feeling remorseful for having Ino do something so delicate and dangerous for her.

"They are staying in a rented flat somewhere in the metropolitan area. Her home is currently empty so you shouldn't have any problems in going there anytime you want. As you know, the backdoor is open."

Mebuki always left the door that led to the summer kitchen open for Sakura and her friends to come and visit. It was a habit that never died and Sakura was thankful for that because she didn't have any of her belongings in the hospital, nor the key to her mother`s home.

"And Miss Yamanaka… you do not have to be so formal around me." A ghost of a side smirk played on his lips and Ino couldn't help but feel a course of electricity shot along her spine and no, it was not like she had the hots or any sort of childish infatuation for her best friend`s lover, Kami might forbids her, no, it was because she couldn't brush off a very unsettling feeling in the aura of this man.

And albeit he was gorgeous as hell and sexy beyond words, there was just something about him that made her restless and Ino didn't know why. Her mind quickly put it past the absurdity and the danger of that situation.

"Just… Ino will do."

He nodded once to her as the blonde waved at the pair and blew her friend a kiss which she returned before shutting the door behind. Finding herself outside the hospital room, Ino peeped around to see if someone was there –thankfully no family and no Sai- then she let her back rest on the wall beside, a hand on her racing heart.

"Holly damn… what the fuck is wrong with me?" Something… what has made her so nervous about seeing her friend?

Her thoughts raced in her tormented mind as the clicks of her heels rung through the suddenly solitary halls. Shouldn't there be more doctors, nurses and patients around? A bulb flickered on the end of the hall as she headed –a bit too quick– to the elevator.

That started to scare her. The whole scene, especially Sasuke`s appearance has been ghostly and spectral in a way that even sounded dumb to her.

Because apart from his signature Uchiha coldness, stoic and unflappable unreadable attitude and regal gorgeous looks, there was nothing anomalous about that man.

Even so…

All the while to her ride down to the first floor of the hospital, Ino couldn't brush off two things from her mind: that she was extremely _cold _despite the warm air inside and the sun rays peeping through the curtains of the rooms and that the vista with her friend being so romantically getting comfortable into her boyfr– _fiance`s _chiseled chest seemed to have been… **entrapped in time; **that kind of picture bathed in a deviant warm pastel light that was beyond beautiful and flawless and suddenly the viewer got the invigorating feeling that **time didn't flow **into that picture and it remained **out of time, carved in eternity**.

"What am I thinking about, for God`s sake?" She laughed humorlessly, talking to herself like a crazy woman all the way as she joggled to her convertible shiny car, fidgeting nervously with shaky hands trying to reach the contact with her jiggling keys.

She just had this abnormal impulse to get the heck _out of _that place and quick. Yes, she was bloody nervous for a reason that slipped past Ino`s vigilance.

But oh well… she put it past the shock of having a friend entrapped in a car crush, the same friend who broke up from a toxic forced romance with her abusive fiancé and seeing her friend`s secret lover displaying public affection with her very same friend, who just asked her to collect her things in absolute secrecy and have them delivered to her new residence.

And then come amazement and disbelief. She stopped to a red sign, racking a hand through her hair, smirking deviously and somehow… still astonished.

"Oh my _damn_…" She let out some incredulous snorts, repeating the words out loud so as to allow herself to believe it. "Forehead is _engaged _to _Uchiha _Sasuke and they will make it _official_!"

_With Uchiha Sasuke! _She couldn't wait to see how the invisible shy beautiful ex-fiancé of the famous jerk painter Sai Tanaka will wear herself arms linked with no other than Uchiha Sasuke himself.

That will be a shocker.

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* * *

Sasuke left her hospital room shortly after Ino, with the promise of returning to her first hour in the morning to check on her and even though Sakura would have rather have him stay by her side overnight, she knew it would be childish to ask for such a thing.

He was after all, a very busy man who has cut an important meeting short to fly to her and see her condition.

Upon seeing her frightened state and knowing the ambivalent bipolar tendencies of her idiot of an ex-fiancé who probably had conflicting messages shooting through his minuscule brain, after he come to learn that he lost two important people nil is life, namely his fiancé and supposedly their child, and the reluctance to remain alone with all sorts of potential threats, Sasuke has called for one of his bodyguards to come and discreetly safeguard the rosette.

She was glad he did because the idea of an enraged Sai finding out about Uchiha`s constant unjustified visits and her nerve to ditch him right on a freaking hospital was not something she would gladly witness.

Her mother Mebuki has come in the evening to check on her and she was as close to worried for her daughter`s well-being as Sakura ever saw the woman.

Usually she was detached and impassive and never mindful to the emerald eyed girl`s problems, but her face was carved in a stare of genuine concern.

Sakura has briefed the woman about the accident but she had to lie to Mebuki that she has spent the night at Ino`s and they were having a little girls` night so they run out of snacks and Sakura has offered to take a ride a non-stop fast food since Ino has been drinking alcohol hence she couldn't drive, but she got lost on a side road because of a malfunction of her GPS and ended up in an unfamiliar area.

Of course there was still the problem with the car that has been found on the bottom of the lake, a vehicle that definitely wasn't in her possession but Sakura merely told her mother that it was Naruto`s car that he borrowed to Ino since the blonde`s one had troubles with the gas pedal and couldn't drive hers and surprisingly Mebuki trusted every single word, not questioning further.

The Haruno woman wasn't exactly familiar to all her friends and Naruto hardly dropped by her home and Mebuki wouldn't suspect that the car wasn't his, plus by the time she will hear the fact that she was driving a vehicle that no one of them could afford in that lifetime, she will already been married to Sasuke and far away from that place.

Sakura will be graduating from Med school the next year and thus had the possibility to transfer to another city. She has asked Sasuke to move into another city when they got married and he unconditionally told her that he will follow whenever, even in another country if her wishes were such.

She also kept it a secret that she and Sai were over by her own request. In fact, Sakura didn't give Sai the chance to protest or react, because he wasn't entitled to do so after everything he has done to her. It would be the epitome of hypocrisy and cynicism to demand anything from her and even he understood that.

And if he didn't, then it was his own problem and not hers. No she was finally free from his clutch and from her mother, but she has to play nice for now and not make the woman suspect on her.

She told her that she was pregnant and the briefing was also occult since Sakura has somehow let the words trail so that Mebuki will take it as obvious that it was hers and Sai`s baby, expressing her regret and trying to comfort her daughter. Somehow, words that Mebuki never said to her but surfaced now has smoothened her in a way and for that, the rose haired woman was grateful.

Mebuki was never a mother and she never acted motherly towards her until she had an accident. How ironic.

When she left, it was already dark outside and a nurse came to check on her vitals and change her IV. She gave her a pain-killer and Sakura fell asleep soon after.

Unfortunately, she didn't have a dreamless or a peaceful slumber and it wasn't because of the injuries that still hurt nor the shock of the accident, because she couldn't quite remember much from the moment her orbs have been blinded by the other car crushing her from the opposite side of the road, since her mind has blocked those horrendous images out of reflex for protection.

No, it was the unexplainable living nightmare she has been witness of when she run out of Sasuke`s home.

Hundreds of flashing images were developing in her sleeping brain on fast forward, sounds and wails of agony, the embers of the fire piercing the night sky, the blazes enveloping the beautiful mansion, the putrid stench of rotten flesh and their disfigured bodies were crawling back to her and hit her full force.

"N-No… y-you have to get out… someone… help!" She couldn't wake up from that dream, she was alert that it was all a dream even if she was sleeping, but she couldn't brush them off; they won't go away.

It was a horrible nightmare that had the rosette trashing and tossing on her hospital bed, as rivulets of perspiration seeped from her forehead along her temples, infusing into her damp hair and slipping under the hospital gown.

Her pulse was racing, her pupils were dilated and her eyeballs were gyrating into their sockets, making her closed eyelids flutter.

Her muscles were twitching and she had spasms. From the outside, it looked like she was being a possessed woman who was undergoing and exorcism.

She was mumbling incoherent sentences and frequently screamed for help, repeating the words 'burn' and 'mother' which made no sense to another person witnessing her.

A porcelain princess hand tapped her feverish wet forehead with a suave silk touch, brushing away her sticky coral hair away off her frowning face, whispering to her serenely. "Poor child... you are haunted by nightmares, aren't you? Dreams that do not even appertain to you…"

Upon peeping at the suffering young woman, her gaze moisten and her angelic features glowed like the limbs of the moon`s rays that crept through the opened window, breathing to the sleeping rosette and trying to see through the vision of her nightmare, caressing her forehead and stroking her coral hair.

"What can someone as infinitesimal as me do for you, poor lost soul in the sea of souls?"

Her stare travelled to her belly and gave her a knowing perusal, and she let her fingertips descend to the lump of her frame resting under the blankets, as Sakura unconsciously had a hand pressed on her tummy, in a protective motherly way even though she lost the child that was barely growing inside her.

"Life... can only be nourished by_ living_ souls, my dear. But your heart…" The astonishingly beautiful woman with the face of Paradise and the touch of a divine light pressed her palm upon Sakura`s thumping chest frowning and shaking her head. "Already belongs to _him_."

"Uhhh..." Sakura`s eyes were squeezed and twitching, her forehead sweated profoundly like she has been running to the marathon and her porcelain skin was pale and burning.

The stranger that was leading her through the night has let a soothing light blue light radiate from her fingertips and tapped them to her forehead. "…n-no... leave... me... don't..."

"Such a shame... for such an innocent dove." Her golden-honey orbs softened and a small content smile bloomed on her visage when Sakura stopped trashing into her slumber and she instantly relaxed under her touch, the deep wrinkles caused by her frowns dissipating from her face.

"My powers here are hampered, unfortunately. I am just a nimbus of this sky child, but there is already one moon shining on your sky. I wish you would have stop forcing the Fate`s hand and be considerate to the patience it had for you and _come along_."

The glow of her hands encompassed Sakura`s entire body and she was getting calmer, more serene like all the nightmares were leaving her slowly. The horrible images of the carnage were turning sweeter and heavenly.

Suddenly, she was viewing a mental image of a past full of happiness and roars of laughters coming from the Uchiha mansion. Another time… the same family who has been blessed with two beautiful brothers.

She smiled and her fever was cooling down.

The woman`s face was blessed with a wide smile. She was rubbing her knuckles along Sakura`s porcelain cheeks, feeling the rose haired woman relax and get a cherubic touch on her face. The effulge that her pearl white skin was emitting was translucent, fine and ethereal and she looked like an angel ready to _soar_ to Paradise.

Where she rightfully belonged. Her puffs of breathes were getting slow and tranquil, a mysterious smile was splitting her lips in two, her features got softer, more tender and graceful and so as her heart listened to a softer lullaby that carried her eternal _peace_.

During her sleep, Sakura was positive that she heard a choir of angels playing Heavenly music and the blurred place that she couldn't see but knew it was there emitted a tangible phosphorescence. Everything was porcelain white and royal gold and honey.

It was an upbeat feeling like she never wanted to… _wake up_ again.

Because she shouldn't. Sakura evaded Death far too many times and it was only because of–

The woman straightened her pose as she was ready to place a kiss on Sakura`s forehead as a cool breeze went through her dark coffee brown hair, making the soft bangs that fell on her right temple flutter and the bells from her hairpin that embellished her traditional bun jitter.

"Nemesis–" His masculine voice was as lethal as the deadliest venom, coldest like a frozen storm and more velvet than the richest wine when he spoke from the window`s frame to the woman that was staying with her back on him.

"–Only hinders the gift of the sinner and she who shall have kept safeguarding the Gates of Providence has diverged from her mission. I wonder what judgment shall I pass for such a transgression, Lady Koharu."

"You have cut her journey short and went as far as to challenge the kismet that has been written on her book, Young Master Sasuke." Koharu didn't turn around to face the eyes that she knew they burned like two sapphires gleaming blood in the fading blue light of the moon to know that he was approaching them.

His steps were lighter than a caress whisper and soundless, his presence was constricting and overwhelming but gentle as a murmur and in a blink of an eye, he was beside the woman they were both looking at, his face void of any kind of countenance.

But… she knew better for she has been defying time alongside him for so long. There was a certain gleam and impressibility secured into his pearl black orbs while watching Sakura and she knew that he had _feelings_; feelings for a woman that he shouldn't touch and yet he disobeyed all the Sacred Rules and approached her.

Even worse than _just _get affiliated to her…

Sasuke interrupted her course of thoughts with his next sentence that honestly didn't take her by surprise. "Why haven't I been able to see _it_?" Koharu knew what he was talking about by the way his crimson orbs fixed on the soft hand that was resting on her belly –the one with her _engagement _ring and it was such an immixture of everything into his velvet voice that even taken her by surprise.

The child.

The hurt and confusion was obvious.

She of course, knew the answer. It was plain obvious even if she was regretful over the entire situation. It was pitiful and pathetic.

"There is so much miracle that someone like you can do." Her voice had the same heavenly touch as his. "Careful young Master. There are still little miracles left unsolved."

"Like what?" Sasuke averted his orbs from Sakura`s sleeping form to meet the pair of diamond black of Koharu`s. Her true form of a divine young beauty was surreal to the beggar hag she presented to Sakura but couldn't hide from him.

"Miracles that not even we can comprehend. We should not look into matters that are not within our powers. Remember that life has its own wonders, though I am positive that there is no need to remind you of this."

"...and even that, must be within my power." A brazen smirk bloomed on Sasuke`s thin lips, as he diverted his obsidian orbs to look at Sakura`s face, who started to get a rose perusal on her cheeks.

He span his fingertips on the outline of her jaw and she immediately leaned into his palm like automatically recognizing his familiar warmth and sought shelter into his touch.

"You let the power corrupt your mind. For your selfishness... You will both pay the dear price." She knew he _loved _this young woman dearly, it was just obvious and unfortunately Sasuke was not the only case, but his was the most special as he was not just anyone.

But what he did know and chose to defy was that he has endangered and played with Sakura`s fate without giving her a second chance nor an option.

She will forever stray from her Destiny and become a renegade of his. And that will cost her dearly. Her and him too.

A side glare that was meant to make the deadliest adversaries perish has been thrown on the woman that shall chose her words more carefully while in his presence, pressing every syllable in the same smooth calm manner that made it even more frightening. "I will not tolerate anymore threats from you Koharu."

"I do not dare to cross that line, my Master. I am merely giving you my humble advice."

"You tried to _warn_ her beforehand and you chose to disobey me even now." He felt it and that was the reason why Sasuke appeared on her hospital room when he felt Koharu`s presence beside his lady and that was something that he couldn't tolerate.

The woman was not dangerous, but only her words and methods were. She knew her job, she knew what she had to do and if he wasn't always alert, he will lose Sakura. "You tried to take her away from me."

And he will never permit something like that to happen. Never and even if Koharu kept on spilling her 'advice' to him, it was not like Sasuke was obliged to listen to that woman after all, in comparison to him, she was just a _messenger_; a maid in this huge mansion that is Life…

"I pity her poor fate. I don't want her soul to suffer afterwards as well. She deserves a peaceful slumber, Master."

It was such a pity when such an angel was called too soon to join his brethren in Heaven, but such was Fate and it was the cruelest judge. It didn't mean that Koharu`s soul wasn't weeping for every single one of them.

Like it did for _Mary_, the cancer suffering girl that stole Sakura`s heart and the one she saw in the cemetery when she visited her grandmother. She was already _resting in peace_ so why couldn't Sakura do the same?

"She is in no danger." Her orbs flew to Sasuke`s indecipherable onyx ones as he stared right back at her with a glint of threat between his beautiful black pools, all the while stroking the sleeping rosette`s coral hair and cheek, seeing as the poor child unconsciously sought for his touch –for such a sweet illusion. " I am watching her." He always did and they both knew it.

Another transgression of Sasuke: he interfered and rescued her from dying on that car accident. Koharu knew the game he was splaying and even though it wasn't exactly by his hand the fact that Sakura survived, his insidious intervention wasn't exactly something that he should have done, but he did it anyways and he did it out of obsession.

The obsession with that woman because Koharu knew that any of them was incapable to love. Love was for mortals, for living people who were still capable of feeling such intense emotions but once they crossed that bridge, everything will turn into glow, tranquility and felicity but never amour.

Even so… something in his eyes seemed to defy such heavenly rules because they were full of love for this woman. It was everywhere in his touch, in his velvet words, in his passion to show her his love and in the way he was defending her.

God help them both.

"Such an innocent girl." She knew what she was telling him: that Sakura was uncorrupted and _pure _when he found her and she should have remained the same, but he exploited such ineffable to bound her to him –to pleasure.

"Do not approach her again." It was the last warning that Sasuke would give Koharu along a slight of a frown. She knew that stare, for she has seen it several times before on his face when someone was being disobedient –so scary and unforgiving.

"It is you the one that has to stay away." But Koharu knew that as much as Sasuke would have loved to pulverize her, he couldn't and he will not do it. Instead, she let her orbs trail on the peaceful sleeping rosette who calmed down entirely.

"Why her?" It was something that Koharu was curious about. Why Sakura of all the women? Why did Sasuke want precisely her and only her?

What was so special about her?

"Why not?"

"Because you do nothing at _random_." The ethereal woman wisely retorted to Sasuke who was backing off from giving an answer. Indeed, why should he tell her? They were merely _colleagues _working in this sea of souls, not close acquaintances.

"That is none of your business."

"I had no idea... that you are still able to _feel_."

He remained silent at that and instead, he found his finger slick along Sakura`s lower lip as she had her mouth partly open to gasp for air, somehow feeling the probe of his touch burn his skin in a way she grew to adore. "..."

Koharu gave a small knowing smile. It was a miracle that Sasuke _fell in love _with a mortal woman. She knew he was not alone in this, but definitely he was the most surprising one to be capable of loving someone ever since his family has been so brutally murdered.

From then his Fate has been sealed once and for all, yet he rediscovered lost feelings alongside this woman that he was treasuring and defending so ardently; it was incredible.

"If you cherish her that much... stop being selfish." And for that love precisely, Sasuke had to give her up and stop fooling her into thinking that they were a future. A future that has long abandoned to her just like Sakura was abandoning that world. "let her go. She deserves to be free."

Because if he kept on bounding her to him like a lasso then she will never have a place in Paradise. She will never be welcomed there to rest in peace. She will be forever bound to…

His words smooth like chocolate and resolute as he interjected into her thoughts. "She wants _me_." No, he will not let her go. She was his salvation, his gulp of oxygen, his own _angel_.

_Angels__ who need angels… what an interesting concept_, Koharu couldn't help but inwardly marvel. Miracles were born from hopes, just like Heaven was born from God`s love for his most suave creations –people. The delicacy between this realization touched Koharu`s heart.

It`s not wings the one that make angels fly; it was emotion –love.

"She doesn't know what lies across the_ river_." Of course, a promise and a choice will never be considered voluntarily if the other party wasn't in "Yours."

"Then I will lead her."

"–to destruction."

"To what_ she_ truly desires." How can he be so insightful yet so blind? Koharu held his gaze for a moment before she returned it to a peaceful Sakura who stopped trembling and sweating, probably immersed in whatever fantasy Sasuke's closeness was eliciting within her consciousness and her motherly stare was full of pity.

A sentiment that stirred much disgust to Sasuke; such an unforgivable weakness.

"Remember... there is just so much that you can do for her." That serene tranquility was so illusory and Koharu couldn't help but try to make Sasuke realize how greedy and selfish he was for keeping her away from her journey; destiny was something that no one should play with.

"See for yourself...master." And she was gone as a glimpse with the first gushes of the wind. Back to where her job was: to guard.

"...damn that annoying hag..." Sasuke muttered between a displeased frown carved into his handsome face. Koharu always meddled in everyone`s business and he was no exception though Sasuke was hardly someone who was in need for any directions.

"Hmm…" Obsidian orbs travelled down to where his favorite rosette was nesting and he grazed his knuckles against the porcelain of her cheeks, smiling softly when her visage sweetened and she seemed to cuddle with his touch, leaning into him in her sleep.

"Nothing...There will be nothing to harm you again, my love." A content sigh escaped her parted lips as in she has felt his feelings, although she wasn't alert. "I... will make it happen." Obsidian irises bleed red like a bloody moon, watching the woman lying in her hospital bed, gleaming and spilling the resolution of his heart. "No matter what _They_ say."

Something flickered in the back of his conscience and Sasuke whipped his head over his shoulder, as his orbs pierced through the walls and defying space and distance with grace.

An arrogant smirk grew on his lips as he caught the sight of a golden blob of spikes in the vicinity of lunar orbs and coy smiles.

A cloying couple was walking hand in hand under the moonlight, entrapped in a sickening romance, oblivious to his keen intuition and perception. "Hn... fool." Uzumaki _Naruto _has summoned his courage and asked the Hyuga heiress out on a date.

* * *

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* * *

**IV.**

* * *

This feels like Paradise!

Even though she has just been discharged from such a depressing place –the Hospital, it has been a while since she has felt so liberated from all her problems and for the first time in her life, things seemingly settled for the better.

A light rain was percolating against the crystal windows thumping a serene harmony of a romantic torpid Saturday morning and caressed the eardrums of two lazy entwined bodies which were nuzzled into the sateen sheets of a King Sized bed.

"I want you to accompany me to the Christmas Exhibition next month, Sakura." Sasuke started out of the blue, shattering the cozy silence that draped their naked form, while he was lackadaisically running his fingertips along Sakura`s bare arms that was twined possessively around his waist.

He didn't need to glance at his lady to know that she was pouting in that whimsical comical manner that he simply adored, while he was absentmindedly looking at the filigree ornamental high ceiling of his bedroom.

Her shoulders that he was claiming in a possessive affectionate gesture of love have briefly tensed upon realizing the underneath implication of his irresistible invitation. "Sai is going to be there too."

For the past days she and Sasuke have been conversing about their future together and albeit her dreams were slowly taking a tangible form and stopped being just illusory chimeras, naturally problems aroused and this with her former fiancé was the most pressing one.

She basically vanished from the hospital one day earlier to avoid any confrontation of Sai, his parents and her mother and everyone for the matter and moved in with Sasuke this time, forever.

Consequences will be and along with them a lot of tears and shouting and reproaching from her family and Sai, but this time she had Sasuke for backing her up and he was everything and enough to protect her because if his bubbling furious blood boiling into his veins whenever she has been abused still hasn't erupted because of his ineptitude to do something without going against her plea of not intervening, this time he was adamant in fighting and crushing anyone who might go as far as to dare to touch her.

"_I _am going to be there. Do you honestly believe that I will permit anyone to disrespect you, in my presence?" A brushed off lock on her temple made her shudder under his tiffany touch on her skin.

"No. You know what I mean. I know you will safeguard me, Sasuke. You always did, but now it is different."

"How so?"

"I am going there as your _date_, right? As in _officially _together and not just one secret affair. You have been my secret lover so far and this was only something between the two of us and well my friend Ino but her lips are sealed so yeah… but this time, everyone is going to see us.

And while I am a nobody, you are someone who is well known by all the elites from the high society not to mention the Press."

"You are living with me, in my home now. Since there is no need for us to pretend, I don't want you to accompany me as my _girlfriend_ Sakura."

"But, then what am I to you–"

"–Fiancé. You are_ not_ just a consort to me, love, not anymore." Sasuke brushed his thumb over her ring. from him. "Now that you are free of any engagement and commitment, I want to have my claim on you."

She felt something churn inside her chest. a warmth has coated her heart in gold and she felt more valuable, more of everything.

She interlaced their fingers above his chest as he buried his nose in the junction of her neck, nip at her soft skin there, licking her pulse and collarbone.

"I am _–ah–_ scared." She moaned when he suckled on her earlobe and behind her ear.

"What is there to be fearful about?"

"When you are here with me like this... it feels so normal so simple and natural. But in the public`s eye... you are someone prominent. Reputed."

She bit her lower lip, and averted her gaze stuttering and not finding her words. The rosette didn't know how to express what she felt but she knew Sasuke would understand her.

"I belong to the commoners. Invisible to everyone. The plain aspiring medic Sakura who failed an important exam and cannot get anything right."

"And yet... as much as you are berating yourself, you are still everything to me. It is you that I have chosen, so the others will naturally accept it. Give yourself some credit. You have no idea of the elegance and beauty in your value, Sakura and this is sad because it shines so bright to me."

He uplifted her chin to look into her eyes. Sasuke was having that expression that he was looking like smiling but he was not, a mysterious smile like Mona Lisa`s captivating picture.

"I have been fighting the agony to pretend to be a foreigner to you whenever I saw you outside the intimacy of my home, for long enough, my angel. Take anything and everything you desire from me, but do not dismantle me of the privilege of loving you freely."

He hovered above her while her palms run along his chest and abdomen, and run underneath the blanket hanging loose around the swell of his hipbone.

"You are a fool. It is you I am thinking about. I don't want your image to be disgraced by being entangled with me."

"Entangled? What an indelicate rough word is it. Only our fates can be intertwined, Sakura. I don't want to objectify you, I want to _marry_ you."

She blushed even though they could hardly be at the kernel of their relationship and he still found her kinesics to be so cute and so innocent.

"How can you say that so casually?" She eschew her emerald orbs from him making Sasuke chuckle into his chest in that baritone Grand Piano key that made her innards jitter, rolling a fallen tendril of her glossy hair behind her ear shell.

"Because the fact that I want to lead you to the altar and become your husband is no enigma to any of us. I do not depict the problem of stating a fact, love."

"Are you trying to be romantic?" Sakura taunted playfully while she rolled on her side and leaned entirely on his chiseled chest.

Virgin pink locks that were slightly damn and messy from their earlier activities fell like a veil along her temples and brushed his alabaster skin, tickling him as Sasuke smirked at her tone since they were _way_ past those fugitive teenage romantic things.

"I am ensorcelling you. Does it work?"

"Like in the first day we met." The rose haired angel sussured dreamily to the one she adored, while the chartreuse crystals of her orbs welled with the vivid memories of their first encounter, a faithful moment that was veiled in magic –one that will forever be ebbed within the vault of her memory.

Sasuke glimmered once to her and nodded in total acceptance, letting the pads of his fingertips skim along her forearms making her porcelain skin fill with pleasurable tickles.

"And that was the first time you were mine." And oh, what a night it was… Sasuke has taught her the real definition of being with a man, indirectly crushing any competition and making the others before him seem like pubescent teenagers who couldn't tell the difference between a woman and a pineapple.

"Did you think of me as a one night stand then?" Sakura couldn't help but inquire curiously as she could tell Sasuke everything without the risk of meeting fury and improper violent behavior, since this ebony haired Uchiha heir was a real gentleman of the upper society. He will never ever disrespect her and he was always calm and patient with her.

"I mean… it is totally ok if you did because we have just met and so, but attraction was obviously there, at least… from my part,"

Sakura was totally rambling now trying her best to correct the clumsy mistake and being visibly apprehended that he will take her comment the wrong way, albeit she knew it that Sasuke was not stupid, understanding perfectly what she wanted to say about their encounter, thus the implication of what was the image that she had like a lady in the others` eyes, somehow sensing the panic amassing into her mind –she was fearful that as soon as she marries him, the others will brand her as another gold digger scheming and trapping a billionaire into her net of lies, and not someone who harbored true feelings for the handsome Uchiha.

"And it is ok if you didn't feel like that, because you still had eyes for me, and there were many other gorgeous women around for you to–"

"–never." Sasuke interjected and stopped the rest of the useless sentence gently but firmly and not giving her the chance to ever doubt his feelings for her by relating herself to his image as a philander, because she was someone that he worshipped and adored all together; he placed Sakura on a pedestal of gold into his heart, a place that no one ever had and will never have no matter what the others say. She was everything. "I have never disrespected the sylph Goddess that entrapped me by thinking you were_ just_ a good one night occurrence to me Sakura." There was no room for doubting him into his leathery velvet inflection, only love and determination.

"You make it sound like you have waited for me for the entire life Sasuke. Like fate has brought us together that night."

"I have been waiting for you, love. You have no idea how much..." There was so much credibility in his words but instead of being inquisitive she was captivation, hypnotize her. She was never afraid of him even if mysteries were embellishing the fascination of the intricate men he was.

"And now that you are mine and mine only, the Hell with everyone else who dares to look at you the wrong way. To us."

He dipped down to capture her lips in a spellbinding kiss, until he stole her moans, her mind, her soul, her breath. She framed his shoulders with her winding hands, clinging to him like she wanted to levitated on his shadow`s wings, responding to his kiss with abandonment.

Their tongue twined together in the waltz whose steps they memorized and danced with closed eyes, licking each other`s moist lips with undone passion, rolling, nipping and suckling on their tongues into each other`s mouths, invading and battling for dominance, until their lungs gasped for oxygen.

"Love me... Sasuke." Half shut chartreuse orbs gleamed behind fluttering lids in unabashed desire as Sakura whispered breathlessly against her lover`s parted lips. "I need you _so_ damn much."

She chanted those words more than she could count and yet they never grew cliché between them on the contrary now that she was finally free to be herself, free from any commitment that weighed down her shoulders and leading her into embracing a road that was straying from her own dreams, Sakura couldn't contain the happiness that was making her eyes luminous and her entire aura to glow like a firefly around him.

She was more angelic than ever entrapped here into his bed, a place that she never left ever since they have traipsed past the threshold of his fascinating mansion and she had the stupendous jolly feeling of happiness when Sasuke let her arrange her clothes into his clothes, into his room allowing the concept of her finally taking that forbidden amazing step of moving with him for good.

After that, they stumbled out of their clothes and lost themselves in a passion without boundaries enjoying their mystique love and loving each other throughout the night without restraint and shame. "My body and my heart. you and you only."

He felt her heartbeat pumping upon his own as she pressed her naked silhouette on his body, curbs, angles and crevices aligning together, molding, pressing and getting scorched into each other's body warmth.

Her perked up nipples were pocking his pectorals, they were puncturing his skin they were hard as diamonds. She coiled her fingers around his hand and brought the underside of his palm to rest on the mound under her flat navel and cupping her warm lower lips with the back of his palm.

Her skin was sizzling and glistening of her milky pear essences exuding from her pulsating core. His fingers slipped inside her see through lace filigree red and black lingerie -ah, she always had taste, depicted by her erotic sensual refinement to enrapture his mind- curling around the thin string molding upon the crevice in between her inner lips, lazily bobbling his curled index and middle fingers up and down, rubbing her wrinkled panties on her lips and the hood of her tauten bundle of nerves, watching how her toes curled into the sateen sheets.

Rosy tulip firm nipples engorged and perked up to him tantalizingly and seductively in clear resonance to his expert stokes against her yielding moist skin and her pupils dilated dropping two shades of gleaming green garnet tinge, coated in lush lust and need.

Only Sasuke could turn her body into a boiling bubbling volcano stirring the immense bonfire residing into the pits of her belly to explode in a bolt of lightning and fireworks with a mere touch of his hand.

He was that amazing.

Sasuke couldn't have enough of this woman writhing above him in pure pleasure, while her digits sunk into his lavish disarray raven hair, nipping her lower lip to moderate the erotic mewls, experimenting new ways of satisfying and playing with her divine body, slowly rubbing his knuckles against the swell of her soft lips while three fingers slide inside her deep and hard stroking her.

Glistening lush sticky juices gleamed around his lean digits that were curling inside her abrasive passageway, percolating along his wrist and palm as a floral honey feminine chemical scent hit his nostrils and mind in a sparkling golden fragrance of rich wine.

By Heavens, he couldn't wait to be inside her for the millionth time and have her until she wouldn't be able to find her mind to scream his name in ecstasy.

Knowing that it was Sunday the next day and she didn't have any courses, nor her internship, he would totally fructify the lazy weekend and _fuck her_ brains the entire night, until the first rays of sunrise would catch her in the swell of another orgasm.

He had the vigor to take her over and over and she knew it all too well. Of course, her body and mind was also screaming to him the same thing.

"I know angel." He always knew what she was thinking about she didn't need to tell him. She wanted him from the first time they have been introduced to each other, but the host of the party she and Sai honored.

She had the same stare as the first day when she climbed into his bed entrapped into her beautiful magnetizing ornamental orbs, eyes that captivated him in a the sweetest enrapture with their intricate patter of viridian aureate fractal irises.

That mysterious mesmerizing fascination, desire, yearning want and need which metamorphosed into celestial calescent love.

"From the very moment when my eyes depicted you Sakura, I knew that you were waiting for someone to pull you out of a world you didn't want to embrace and that man was me."

"I l-love you –ah– Sasuke." She whimpered into his arms while her hips buckled and rolled deep and fast against his fingers begging and searching desperately for release.

He knew that she was exhausted from the previous night and he wasn't that inconsiderate of her still fragile condition considering the fact that she has been hospitalized so he didn't attempt to enter her again, but Sakura wouldn't have it.

"Sasuke…" She realized his reticence and caution and this is the reason why her hand traipsed along his pectorals, skimming along his side and passing his ribs, spanning align his navel to curl around his engorged member that was pulsating desire and blood through her soft palm and stroked him expertly a few times in the same agonizing and arousing manner as his digits were stretching and scissoring her inner muscles in sheer anticipation. "…don't worry, you will not hurt me."

She assured him through lazy tired orbs that were once again sparkling with emotion and need for him and gave him a smile that was both sensual and angelic and this was a face of her that only his angel could create. Sakura was the embodiment of eternal innocence, femineity and the symbol of undying faithful devotion.

"Are you sure?" His obsidian orbs that burned into her like coals and polished sapphire and diamonds were filled with worry and concern, but she nodded to him suppressing another gasp when he pressed the pad of his thumb against her clit, rolling the bundle until she felt the knot in her belly shot an electric voltage along her spine.

His own rich cognac husky inflection grew feral and guttural as blood amassed in the pits of his navel while he hardened under her touch, small digits cupping him like a ring dragging up and down along his delicious length. "Please… I want you again…" There was no hesitation in her voice as she let her eyelids fall against her rich long eyelashes while she pressed her knees down the mattress straddling his waist shadowing him and hovering above him like the shadow of a water nymph.

Sakura spread her toned slim thighs wider and aligned her body with his own while she guided his rosy ridge that resembled the tip of Cupid`s arrow to the core within her lace petals, feeling him already oozing of sticky small droplets of his essence while he injected her opening slowly.

She didn't hesitate for a second when she felt him halfway glissading inside her and firmly slammed her hips down to take him all the way inside, both groaning and moaning hotly at the feeling of their united warmth in one single stolen breath.

"Oh my God Sasuke…" Chartreuse orbs rolled at the back of her head when she felt his hard body stretched her to borders undefined, filling her to the hilt.

Feminine palms outstretched align his tautened pectorals that were rippling and flexing deliciously but he rush of adrenaline, glistening under her touch by the droplets of sweat running along his marble skin while she stroked every peak and contour of the statuesque masculine body, moaning his name in pure pleasure.

Slender fingers cupped her pert breasts kneading them like dough and pinching her erect nipples while Sakura arched her lower back like a bridge spanning along the rivers of pleasure and connecting their hearts and minds and started to ride him, stretching up and down like a nymph.

"Sakura…" Her name being said in a zephyr of the lowest key of a Grand Piano percolating from his bruised lips made her skin shiver in pleasure.

"Faster." He bad her darkly and huskily and she eagerly complied to that command. The idea of being dominated by this powerful Uchiha male was mentally exciting Sakura in ways that not even the concept of sensuality could define; he was beyond arousing.

She grounded her hips against hers hard and fast, bouncing along his member as she rode their orgasm in a disarray rhythm.

Their immixed quintessence's seeped along the bulky veins running along his lean member flowing in sticky rivers from her body.

The sound of muffled groans combined hotly with the one of splashing skin against skin, bathed in pure carnal pleasure like drops of rain pounding on the windows outside.

There was no way her heart will be able to resist the pounding rhythm that their love making was creating, Sakura realized.

It was impossible to breathe normally and in fact, the more she tried to suppress her screams the less oxygen she inhaled.

"Ah! S-Sasuke… please!" She begged helplessly while the knot into her belly sunk into her womb and amassing of a bubbling electricity pulsating through her body.

The Uchiha buckled his firm hips upwards and met her along the way, rapidly falling into the cadence of the pace she set.

One hand dug into her right hip to keep her steady against him while she bounced up and down like a caged bird who was trying desperately to fly from her cage and the other slide between their bodies and rubbed on her glistening clit that was poking through her wide spread lace like inner folds.

Desire shot through her like a stream of lightning and she threw hear head backwards in pure pleasure screaming. "Fuck! Sasuke! H-Harder!"

She had no idea how sexy she was like this dirty talking him and screaming at the top of her lungs without caring if his servants might hear her. She begged with no inhibition and Sasuke happily complied, thrusting up to add to the momentum.

Rivulets of sweat were sewed like pearls into the silk of her damp locks, percolating against her shoulders and chest while her siren body was bouncing above his.

Sasuke kneaded her hips with the back of his palm massaging his way down to the curve of her ass, squeezing her hard while lifting her up briefly and leading her to lie on her back with him trading places with her.

She quickly sought for the contact she lost entangling her fingers into his rich raven hair when he adjusted his body between her legs that were spread wide on his sides and spanned like a tubular wave washing over the rocky coast thrusting zealously inside her and hitting her in a disarray rhythm. "AH!"

Her voice broke into a guttural scream while Sasuke rammed inside her with unusual abandonment hitting places inside her that exploded in stardust and fireworks and brought her to swells of undefined pleasure.

She was close to that blissful oblivion and they both knew it for the knot inside his navel was just as pleading for release.

Sakura tucked on his velvety spikes that she adored to play with and forced his head down to adjust the crown on her head under his chin as she placed sloppy kisses on his Adam Apple, screaming and moaning against his skin. His intoxicating masculine smell of raw nature elements mixed with subtle traces of his perfume was pure aphrodisiac. "Sasuke… please…"

"Sakura." His voice was no louder than a gust of an autumn wind blowing against her hair.

They fell into a desperate rhythm like a mad genius musician leading an orchestra of low key instruments and bounced against one another, she welcoming him all the way inside and he glissading inside her as deep as he could reach.

Muscles stiffened and relinquished into the unexpected explosion of adrenaline while pleasure syphoned inside their bodies.

"Sasuke!" His name fell from her lips in a loud scream into his ear but said Uchiha was already blinded and deafened by hormones and drugged with her quintessence, warmth, fragrance and taste when she clasped around him and exploded in a spring of milky juices, taking him along to this decadent path of pure bliss.

Her hands around his shoulders fell limp along the chiseled ranges of his muscled back and curled loose around his waist while Sasuke managed three more ragged thrusts before coming undone firmly planted inside her vault where she was now the most sensitive, mindful not to crush her while her hands refused to give up on her embrace.

He murmured her name softly –softer than his normal laconic and stoic self, and immediately turned on his side with her glued to his form, sliding the blanket around their nude entwined forms.

When her steady slow breaths warmed the soft skin of his pulse has Sasuke realized that his lover was fast asleep into his arms, while her face was bathed in post orgasmic euphoria and fulfillment and an angelic small smile dotted her glossy lips.

"I love you, angel." Sakura fell asleep atop his chest, limbs intertwined, heartbeats laced together, breaths harmonizing in one single melody.

It has been so much time since Sasuke has seen Sakura so relaxed and carefree now that she didn't have to rush back home and desperately trying to keep this relationship a mystery from everyone, no, now she was free to cuddle with him as much as she wanted because there was no more tumult and no more running. They had all the time in the world on the palm of their hands.

She had everything she wanted here and she will have everything she wished for. Sakura refused to go anywhere but his home, she didn't even go shopping or at least purchase a new cell phone since she lost her old one.

Ino has brought two suitcases with her clothes and dropped them at Sasuke`s home and Sakura laughed like a whimsical little child when his butler that opened up the door for Miss Yamanaka to come in told her about the blonde`s goofy mimics and the gasps in complete shock and bewilderment seeing Sasuke`s house interior.

Poor friend of hers, she made her lie so many times and cover for her, but Sakura knew that Ino was like a sister to her and she will always return the favor.

Smirking softly at the divine beauty nuzzled into his arms, Sasuke reached to the nightstand and took some files that he was supposed to sign later on for an upcoming transport and took the chance to study them while Sakura was sleeping soundly so that he will fructify the moments with her later on when she wakes up.

* * *

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* * *

**V.**

* * *

It was raining a cliché cold delicate November rain when Sakura woke up from a deep delicious slumber.

She let her emerald orbs stroll over the carved outline of his sharp masculine profile, as the golden navy blue silk robe was hanging low on the swell of his strong hip bones and the loose folds let Sakura relish into the mastery of the flawless beauty he possessed.

An unperturbed indecipherable expression was dancing across his face, as he casually leaned over the counter, elbow resting beside a clock, casually sipping from his cup of wine.

He knew she has waltzed down the stairs, he could perceive every small her bare porcelain feet were doing on the red carpet rippling over 'the stairs as she strolled down, to come and gaze aimlessly at the raindrops percolating on the window, like skilled vivacious fingers hitting the keys of a piano, lulled by the rhythmical beat of water knocking on the glass.

"There is something I need to tell you... Sasuke." She risked to take a peek at him and mentally cursed the constricting lump knotting on her throat as he was stating right back at her, wanton ideas concocting into the pits of his bottomless obsidian eyes as she stood before him clad in only a see through lace nightgown, which brushed high on her porcelain toned thighs, molding over her slim waist, where a nonchalant taunting golden belt was cupping the two folds upon her deep cleavage. She was naked underneath the thin fine material and her margarite pearl translucent skin did nothing to tame down the beast crawling form the caskets of eyes, lust filled within him.

From the moment she has been discharged from the loathsome hospital room and stepped into his freaking limo as he drove her off, all they did was fucking each other, lust after each other, made love to each other and scream each other`s names until it just wouldn't roll out of their tongues anymore and even that, they didn't stop.

And that was two days ago, and yet, he was indomitable in the stamina and vigor he had, but Sakura wouldn't try to play the innocent, since most of the meals and breakfast they skipped, was because she has personally seized him down and rode him until she couldn't keep herself straight atop him, falling on his chest, when he would just flip them over and start all over again, as if there was an immensurable source of energy charging him with infinite pools.

But that morning, they just cuddled, kissed and stroke each other, sharing intimate loving caresses, without doing anything graphic pornographic like they have done in the privacy of his house, whenever they spotted a place good enough to be tainted by them.

"What?" He was always grumpy after sex, and she didn't put it past him. She grew to love every part of it and quite frankly, it was the second most innocent face he made, beside sleeping, and it was kind of cute.

However, she knew him all too well to know that the things she was going to confess wouldn't be on his liking. But she needed to come clean before him and confess everything, since he...he wanted her to be family.

His family and that time, there was no pathetic lame joke promise of a marriage to hid behind and mask the uncertainties she might have had.

She had to be a fucking woman and step before him like one to proudly walk by his side, so she dragged in a heavy sigh, folding the thin cloth around her out of reflex, shivering.

"When you were in Brazil, before the... accident," She started softly, while fighting off the intensity of his wrapping stare on her and the shivers that run along her spine with it.

"I have searched through your belongings." Sasuke didn't even flinch. He didn't care about that, she could look into, touch and have anything she well damn wanted from him, but didn't stop her, nor when the guilt in her voice pained him worse than every self-control he was trying to conjure in order to calmly listen to her confessing whatever was ramming and consuming her, before he shred that gown out of her figure, throw her on the counter and fuck her merciless against the cold glass window she was staring at, cursing the inanimate glassy object for getting more attention from her than him. "and found something that I cannot comprehend, nor can I get it out of my mind."

His fine eyebrows furrowed ever so softly at the way she said it. He thought he made sure to have her remember all but his damn name, but apparently she was still able to think straight.

Key point being _still_. And that mere thought turned him on even more. He took another sip of wine to try and amass all the wanton thoughts back into his mind, from the slightly bulge forming underneath the unhinged robe he wore.

"About what?"

She went for one of the drawers, coming beside him as he didn't flinch away but merely redirected his indomitable glance from her to her fingers, as she slide open one of the drawers with a small distinctive embellished key, turned it two times and opened the drawer fingering the back of it, until she found the hard covered photo album she has dropped before she stormed out of the home, figuring that a maid must have placed it back on its rightful place.

"About... your family." She didn't miss it –the way he filched like not expecting it, but did nothing to stop her from opening it and flip the pages open.

"There is not even a single photograph of them in your home or office and I really believed that you didn't keep any for a reason I cannot begin to grasp. They didn't treat you like my mother does to me, or so I assume, but I have chosen not to question you. And yet... you had all of this pictures stocked up in a secluded place."

She turned to look at him and he was staring back at her, motionless and not saying a word. "In both your home and your mind."

She gulped and chose the photo of his mother holding up him as a baby. "Why is that?"

He was silent for a while before he spoke, voice drained of emotion. "What is the point of decorating my walls with pictures of ghosts?"

"Because people do that to always remember the dear ones. To make sure they are still watching us, guide us, be with us, protect us, and smile with us!" She didn't mean to snap at him, but she didn't realize it. "It is not my place to question your reasons, Sasuke..."

"But there is something I cannot overlook."

She held the photo of his mother and him as a baby slide out from the album holding her and then flipping it so she could present him. His eyes however never left hers.

"This woman... is your mother right? Uchiha Mikoto?"

"Yes."

"And the baby, is it you or your brother?"

"My elder brother Itachi."

She could perceive it in his tone that the usual laconic reticence was there albeit he was a real a gentleman in suppressing it until it was almost imperceptible but Sakura knew better that the topic was uncomfortable to the Uchiha; she knew him good enough to depict it in his leathery chocolate baritone voice.

"There are more than fifty photographs in here Sasuke... but not a single one of you. None."

She couldn't delay that conversation anymore.

There was too much mystery and enigmas that made no sense draped around Sasuke`s past and persona and if she truly wanted to wed him and become bound to him until Death will separate them and even beyond that, then she had to know.

Sasuke already asked her to marry him in four months for now and she had no problem in accepting it and albeit she wished for a small intimate ceremony, she also knew that Sasuke was a reputed man with many acquaintances and thus many obligations and if she wanted to bear his name and his future heirs, then she must get used to live by his standards, so she accepted the idea of a grand ceremony, albeit Sasuke wasn't pressuring her in anyway.

So they _must _have this conversation. He had to be entirely honest to her if he wanted to become his husband and she knew that he was.

If there was any subject that Uchiha didn't want to discuss with her he was elegantly diverging it but he was always sincere with her.

"What is your point?"

"The date scripted on the back of the photo..." she didn't need to voice what she was thinking about, it was just so obvious. Sasuke merely shifted his gaze once to look at the blank luscious paper in her hands and the neat handwriting in dark ink embed into it, then went right back to her.

The beautiful Uchiha let his back rest on the back of the bed, showing her his masculine profile, as he took another taste of the wine.

"The date is… _correct_."

It was silent for good ten minutes, during which all of Sakura`s hardworking wheels inside her mind were screeching and spinning madly, information falling the back of her head, like pearls percolating on polished floor.

"W-What?" She barely found her voice to speak let alone think about something that transcended the realm of ration and logic and drifted into concepts that were as bizarre as they were utterly impossible.

"W–what are you saying? How can it be–" She nodded her head to him as he was facing the wall before him, totally unruffled by what he has just confessed so nonchalantly without any trace of doubt visible in those charcoal unfathomable beautiful eyes; he was completely honest to her and this is what scared Sakura up to the point where her spine filled with icicles and a voltage coursed through her entire body in pure panic.

"–even I can say that 1720 is a year... Are you trying to confirm that this photograph... has been taken 166 years ago?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"I don't know, maybe because this is fucking IMPOSSIBLE!" Sakura yelled to him before she could stop herself and her tone was all sarcastic, while those emerald crystalline orbs shone with a suppressed fury and disbelief, but he was untouchable and the emotions weren't reaching Sasuke`s calm and composed form.

His calmness churning within the depths of his obsidian pools were scaring her more because he was expecting him to laugh at her and tell her that he was lying and the reason for that outré situation and the mystery behind the photograph was just an insignificant error made by the one who took the photo but no, Uchiha was completely silent and not denying his previous words, like allowing the information to sink in and negation to dissipate from her mind expecting this reaction.

"Say something before I lose my damn mind, Sasuke."

"It is the truth and whether you chose to believe it or not, it is your own free choice."

"How can I believe that a photo of your mother and brother was taken 166 years ago? Are you trying to make fun of me?"

The fact that he was not was what knocked the wind out of her lungs and suddenly the plush carpet seemed to fly out of her bare heels and the need to lay down and grasp something tangible made her knees jitter and melt.

The room started to spine while adrenaline was pounding into her eardrums just as ominous as the suddenly eerie silent atmosphere between them turned from cozy and intimate to piercing, suffocating and frightening –emotions that she never once felt around Sasuke before were bouncing right back to her and making her think ever so briskly that she made the right choice in choosing to leave everything behind for a man whose past was as obscure as those obsidian orbs.

Eyes that were warm and calm to her as they were almost _too _patient and boring into her own viridian gemstones; emerald eyes whose disbelief and plea to tell her that everything was just a conjured up crazy dream and there was nothing that couldn't be explained veiling his past, but unfortunately, he kept on staring at her with a glass of scotch in his left hand and an attitude that was as composed and in control as it was almost sinister.

Suddenly… there was a scary aura about Sasuke that she overlooked until now that she had a way out into her daily life when they weren't together that she became aware of now that she won't go anywhere else but his home and thus his life.

Sasuke was dark and obscure and so was his personality and his life, especially the past that he wasn't talking about. And suddenly the feverous events that transpired into this jewel of architecture that was this house came ricocheting to her on fast forward –she could never forget the tenebrous catastrophe that enfolded right before her eyes like a living nightmare about the cremation of his entire family and this was the reason why she got into the car crash; because she run away exactly from that dream or recurrence or whatever it was.

A sign from another time… another **world.** She grew afraid as her intelligent mind started to sew the pearls of the strange encounters that kept on happening to her lately like a necklace of bizarre situations and Sasuke was seeing it all in the way she took an invisible step back from her eschewing her frightened eyes from his onyx ones and looking on a beautiful expensive painting on the side wall –one that was her favorite by far, knowing that it calmed her.

His chest was aching and clasping in pure agony seeing her body language conveying a message to him that pained Sasuke but he resisted the urge to cut her short, knowing that she had all the right to question him like this since this woman was the one who he wanted to marry.

Sasuke fought back the impulse to collect her in his arms and whisper to her white lies and deny this conversation, knowing that love and a steady relationship meant more than lovemaking.

Sex was reserved for pleasure and reaching intimacy, but it shall never be anything else than this especially not a weapon to fight her right to know the truth.

He knew it and respected her more than to just use it as an object of desire. This is why his words came a little bit too serious and consequently Sakura mistook his tone for an angry and reticent one, and something made her shriek away but she went on knowing that Sasuke will never hurt her.

As obscure as he might be, she was safe with him, of that Sakura was positive. She could see it that he wasn't trying to step into her persona space, allowing her this privacy to take a comfortable distance from him and go on.

Even if she might have appeared to be complacent and twined into an abusive relationship out of fear or cowardliness, Sakura was a fighting spirit, one that possessed an immense inner strength and now that she was free from that man, she can spread her wings wide and soar with more confidence than the past two years.

"You want me to tell the truth, so it is the truth I am telling you."

"I saw them... I must have gone insane because the last thing I knew, I had a vision of your family... all this house burst into flames."

She missed the way his chiseled shoulders stiffened upon hearing what she was disclosing to him for the first time since the accident and his mind was quick in completing the puzzle.

Sakura refused to tell anyone including the doctor the reason why she was driving on such a bad weather condition that night when she had the accident.

He would have never expected it to be for the fact that she has been visited by ghosts. "Did they die in a fire?"

For five good minutes, the only sound that pierced the heavy silence in the vast living room was the ticking clock on the wall, counting down the agonizing moments and Sakura was afraid that Sasuke wouldn't answer, but he surprised her. "They did."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she was getting pissed off at him, but not because of his evasive answers, but because she was trying to fight away the fear and panic-stricken state of mind.

Something about that topic was making her shaky just like in the night when she drove off his property and the similarities, albeit this time the servants and the owner himself were present and she was positive that the action won't repeat itself.

_Right?_

She felt lucidity drift off her mind and Sakura shook her head briefly to cease away the imbecile figments of everything around her dissipate suddenly and turn into another distorted image, or the real one, briefly wondering whether the lush ritzy life that surrounded her now wasn't just…

A **dream**?

Pure horror crept along her limbs when this idea was ingrained into her mind and it grew worse by the minute.

She felt her heart rate escalade and rest in her throat in the form of a painful lump. Of course every single gleam of distress was mirrored into Sasuke`s piercing eyes, and he knew exactly what she was thinking about and what was distressing her and suddenly, Koharu`s words of wisdom started to make perfect sense into his mind.

That woman was right of course and he knew it and now seeing Sakura react the way she was and being troubled by the concept of things swaying and drifting from the tangible word that she was living in, completely refusing to believe that underneath perception, an infinite spiritual world was enfolding and surrounding her and he questioned whether his choice was simply a caprice –a selfish desire of him who should have never fall in love with a…

_Mortal. _Especially one who shall traipse through the stages of the _Great Journey _to the _afterlife, _cutting her short and fighting the scared morals of God. Of course that she couldn't understand and everything for her seemed to be alien, foreign and the concept derisive –because she was not supposed to still remained suspended into the world of living people, while she started the journey without return and looking over her shoulder, still existing into both of the worlds.

The fact that she was not cursed to wander for eternity between the veil like a spirit without a shadow and drowning in loneliness, was solely because of _him. _

"This is as good as inconsequential now." She will never believe and nor understand his words.

"So you would rather fuck my brains out, instead of telling me about your family and why there is no damn photo of them or you or that they died in such a horrible way?!"

He could see it that underneath those prickling lucent eyes, there was pity for him and what happened to his beloved parents and brother, knowing that Sakura as a sensitive woman.

"If you want me to be your wife, then stop treating me like a goddamn whore who lusts after you and trust me more, just like I trust you!"

She was rambling, shouting, trembling and he loathed to see her like this, when she was supposed to be genuinely happy and experience things that she normally wasn't supposed to and nor did she felt when she was with her family.

"Sakur–"

"–I can't read that damn mind of yours outside the bed you fuck me into Sasuke! No matter how much I try, sometimes, you are so far away! Just like now, damn it! And I cannot believe in what I cannot reach!"

She placed the photo on the counter and stormed outside, before he had the chance to stop her, grabbed the cigars pack and the lighter on the way and went into the rain, bare feet and almost naked, prompting on the porch, and lighting up her cigarette, taking a long drag, letting nicotine and smoke cloud her dizzy mind, she wasn't fighting of the angry tears, they were rolling down the outline of her cheeks and immixed into the heavy drops of rain percolating on her porcelain skin.

She felt the tension, the sadness, the pinch of their argument on her skin, and looking around... she realized that no matter how ridiculous the situation was, if she wanted to run away she didn't have the place where to, save for Ino`s home.

She broke up with Sai –what a heaviness has been lifted from her heart– she couldn't go back to her nagging mother who would slap her and repudiate her again, she didn't have any living relatives that she could trust... she only had Sasuke and she has called him names and shouted at him, even if he did nothing for her to doubt him.

Laughing humorlessly because she has indulged into her fear, she lighted up another cigarette, as her body filled in cold shivers, her skin wrinkled, her limbs trembling and the bum was burning her purple lips. Damn it was so cold. The rain was cold. The nature itself was cold void of colors, drained of jolly.

What an ugly November rain.

When the simplest of gestures leave the deepest of scars, no other tender words can mend the broken unfortunate heart and make the spirit a whole again and accordingly Sakura has never once felt mote of a stranger into the protective nest of her own family.

And she has seen all the wonders of life –and her own unfulfilled wishes, into the innocent eyes of her frightened little boy cousin, like a damnation for all the things she was not able to give or the person she couldn't have become.

The prospect of becoming dust and forgotten has never been so merciless playing within the confinements of her deepest insecurities.

It was a lucidity's voice which was striving to be heard and Sakura started to perceive it clearer and louder than before. She had never felt more of a stranger to her own world.

Not only everything seemed go wrong into her life, but she started to not find her place into the world all of a sudden.

Not only the others were rejecting and blamed her for things she hasn't even done, but she couldn't recognize herself in their descriptions.

Like her name on their lips was associated to another face that was not hers. And that caused a deep void to open into her heart threatening to consume her completely until she turned into tiny crystals of sand, being gone with the first breeze of a magnolia scented monsoon.

No matter how she looked at it, Sakura found herself farther and farther from the outside world and each day one step closer to become fully connected to the only person that had not failed her once: Sasuke. One year was enough to make her completely dependent of his presence.

She needed him more as she needed oxygen because as long as she was in his arms, kissing him, getting one with him or feeling his hot skin under her fingertips, was enough to breathe life into her. In fact, she started to truly feel alive and awoken only in his suffocating presence.

* * *

**_/Everyone said that life was the greatest of the gifts that God had graced us all with, but it has done nothing to me buy fail me all the times/_**

* * *

Her eardrums were so tired from resonating with the harsh reproachful words which came from the others' lips each time she entered their fields of view. Acceptance from the others which she never obtained. Never.

She was laughing and crying and smoking almost nude in front of Sasuke`s mansion. She was scared and not because of... phantoms, like he has conveniently called them she was scared because if she didn't get to know him more, understand him more, their relationship and marriage would never work.

She didn't want to be the personification of a concubine, who waits patiently in his bed, for him to take as he pleased.

She wouldn't deny and say she didn't want him every single minute because she would only delude herself. She was returning his touches just as passionately as he did, but she wanted to be more than a glass doll.

Up until now, he has coated the world he introduced her into , in gold, honey and milk, presenting exactly the princess world she would have liked to see, but she wanted all of him, with his dark shattered past and tainted memories.

She knew he was not a chauvinistic pompous asshole, who couldn't accept the meandering flow of life, not in his profession and not as a businessman.

he has always been in for the change, swaying like a willow in the caress of the wind and never breaking in front of the storm, so she figured that the memories he was pushing away off his life and from her eyes, were consuming him, killing him, and she just wished for him to open up that rusty door and allow her to venture inside the catacombs of his mind and meet those lurking bloodthirsty demons inside.

Absentmindedly she elevated her hazel glossy orbs to the sky, thinking about where was that all damn rain coming from, how was it possible to rain so much and how could the nature take in and amass so many rain drops, without drowning?

She has almost drowned if not for... she never understood how did she make it to the surface. The door of Sasuke`s car was locked, she remembered she tried to break through but never made it and the windscreen was too thick to shatter, she reminded pushing it with her palms, but it would only ripple as water burst inside.

Someone has opened the door and dragged her out, taking her wrist and gently pulling her to the surface. She was fighting to remain awake and not lose consciousness, she knew how much time was brain able to survive without oxygen, but there wasn't the paramedics, police of firemen. They came in some minutes after, because the idiot who crashed her -Sasuke`s- car has called 911.

At first logic tried to swim towards the lighthouse and think about the possibility of him jumping into the water to save her, but she learned afterwards that he had a broken leg a limp hand, a cut on his head and four broken ribs, and he was barely conscious, which was their both luck ,either way she would have been as good as... dead.

How ironic. She has cheated on death for so many times.

She didn't realize how cold she was, until she has felt a warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders. she was so startled that she jumped out of surprise and whipped her head backwards, to crash with Sasuke`s onyx orbs set on her.

She swore she didn't see him approach, but then again, she was not paying attention. He told her nothing, but his eyes were gleaming, flickering like a gentle candle, and thee was warmth, sadness and regret inside and her stomach did a flip flop when she saw him.

"I don`t mind if you want to smoke inside. And if you don't want to see me then you can go into the greenhouse or the foyer or I can leave this house so that you will not feel suffocated or so anxious around my presence. Anything that will make you feel more comfortable and at ease, just name it and I shall obey without questioning you."

His leather velvet voice was a warm zephyr against her cold skin and his words spoken so suavely and so sincere caressed her heart tenderly and cupped those tears that still leaked along her high cheeks. "But don't stay in this _coldness _with your injuries."

a small smile, not a smirk and she could see remorse, guilt and sadness within. You are the future medic. You don't need me to tell you this." Meaning he acknowledge her worth and didn't objectify her image. His voice was velvet and suave cozy, familiar and inviting.

"You can be mad at me. You have all the right to be, I was being a bitch and scooped into your privacy. I shouldn't have done it."

She tried to keep the tears from touching her steady voice, but it was impossible to wash away the after effects of the adrenaline rush she has lost. There was a ring of smoke meandering around them and it was another thing that Sakura felt culpable for. She knew that Sasuke wasn't smoking and probably hated it, but he was sucking in and not offending her, by pointing out to her addiction.

She just let her be whoever she wanted to be, feel free yet bound in his presence and within his arms, without being judged for her flaws. But he has always encouraged and supported her to overcome them and praised her qualities.

She let her back lean on his chest, and she could feel his hesitation to touch her, but when she let her head fall backwards, to rest on his shoulder, he snuck his hands around her middle, intertwining his fingers on her stomach and if he did it without actually thinking about the child she was carrying she didn't know, but she already felt the sadness and the acerbic motherly instinct ricochet back to her temples, squeezing her eyes shut, eyelids fluttering as she encircled her lips around the slim cigar.

"I am not angry with you." He pressed his regal chin on the crown of her head placing a soft loving kiss on her bubblegum hair, inhaling the fruity perfume of her shampoo, caressing her bare arms to alleviate those Goosebumps creeping on her glace skin.

"And the date of the picture is legit. I will never lie to you. You know you can always trust me Sakura." She just listened to the unsteady tickle of his heartbeat percolating on her back, while his whispers blew on the spiral of her ear shell, making her shiver.

"This house has been hit lightning a long time ago, during a heavy lightning storm and set into fire. I am the only one who hasn't been home because I was studying martial arts and Latin with a private tutor, thus I have returned home three hours later than usual, just to find it surrounded by unfamiliar people trying to cease away the flames."

Were those her tears bathing her eyes, or was it the smoke the one to make them stingy and wet? Sasuke went on and even of his tone was soft as feather and silk smooth, she couldn't detect any emotion on his unwavering voice. None.

Like he has just locked away any feeling and was being as unflappable as he has always been. "I was out cold for three weeks.

I woke up in the hospital, disoriented, crying and alone without any living relative and the heir of the immense fortune of the Uchiha. I was only nine."

By the time he has finished, Sakura took one long last drag from her cigarette, turned around on his arms, fisted her hands into the maze of his messy velvet hair and pressed at the back of his neck, forcing his head down to slam her lips against his.

His hands slid from the curve of her lower back, to cup her ass under the naked sticking brocade robe, giving it a little squeeze as she arched against him and dipped her tongue into his mouth, dancing along with him.

He was so warm and he didn't even flinch away when her wet cold skin tapped his hot one. She didn't care about anything. The solitude she faced for a moment during which she let her mind take a rebel travel into a possible outcome if she were to leave Sasuke, was worse than being dead.

She didn't care if he kept on saying that the photographs were legit, it was probably a symbolic to him date written on them -she would recognize his sharp flawless italic handwriting from a million- just to make him feel less gullible because he was the only survivor and his family passed away and suffered before his eyes, she didn't give a damn if his cunning fingers unwrapped the belt that was keeping her see through floral sewed robe, she didn't care about the cold wind dancing into her damp hair, because Sasuke had his hands stroking the inside of her thigh, skimming up and down her leg, while he kissed her with a finesse and sensuality which left her powerless against the solar love she had for him.

He was already a puzzling enigma just like his unexpected appearance at the Ball they met, yet she did that it in her to care. being with him, into his arms, into his house, wearing an engagement ring worth a price that was blowing her mind, nuzzling into his chest while sprawled on his bed, holding his hand and riding his care, was as natural as the first rays of sun, caressing the sewed dew drops on the suave green blades of the leaves. It was perfect, it was meant to happen, it was more than just coincidence, fate and destiny. It was pure, chemical, celestial, mystical and perennial love.

"Forgive me..." She whispered upon his lips, tasting him, licking and suckling on his mouth, as his hands were rubbing the core of her pleasure, two fingers tantalizing her opening, under the lace panties she wore, emerald eyes gleaming with so many emotions, like the million faces of the diamond of emerald entombed in her eyes. "...I shouldn't have pushed you into confessing something so painful. I should have understood, yet I didn't. I am a fool."

"You can say whatever you like about me." He nipped to her shoulder, while slipping his hands under her butt cheeks, scooping her up as she winded her legs around his waist, taking them both back inside.

"But never call yourself a lady of the evening. You know how much you mean to me, Sakura." His lips found her in another feverous dance, while her hands literarily thorn the robe open, dragging the sleeves down his arms, while he backed her up against a wall, grounding his hips against her wetness, as she moaned heavily into his kiss.

His gown was tossed at his feet as he remained naked before her lustful eyes, desire written all over her emerald eyes.

"I hurt you." She whispered between the mewls of raw pleasure he elicited within her body, as three fingers entered her ruthlessly, pumping her.

Sasuke nuzzled the tip of his nose into her floral scented wet hair, whispering hotly into her ear, while nibbling and suckling her earlobe, making her tremble. "You did not."

"I traipsed your privacy and searched through your belongings and for a moment I…" This is where her trembling voice broke into a guilty resonance and she eschew her vitreous orbs from his not capable of holding his gaze anymore when she breathed. "…was afraid of you… Sasuke."

With a sudden jerk of his fingers slipped through the elastic of her panties, the smirking Uchiha tore the useless piece of chemise out of her siren body, throwing it aimlessly on the sofa behind -still better than the last one which landed into the fireplace- and slammed his hips roughly into her own, letting her feel him rub on her moist folds, tantalizing her.

"You have my permission to touch and explore everything." While he loved the way she was squirming and rubbing against him, but what Sasuke adored even more about Sakura, was the inner child within her, with her innocent -still so untainted- aureate viridian jolly eyes, which were curiously wandering and exploring everything she came across.

First time he brought her to his home, he couldn't contain his amusement when he let her explore every single room and she looked like Ali Baba in the golden cave.

He wouldn't blame it, she was a normal woman trapped into the house of a billionaire with taste, tact and an indecipherable exquisite aesthetic for arts.

"And there is absolutely no reason for you to ever be _afraid _of me love." His touch and voice alone were ensorcelling and tore her from the surrounding reality and projected her into the realm of a synesthesia of pleasure and affection entwined intimately together in this transcendental tango of two hearts.

Lust exploded from within her body stirred by the earlier rush of anger and adrenaline while Sakura untied the knot of his belt and tore the silky and sateen robe off his chiseled body sliding it along his sculpted arms, seeking from his nude body and the scorching fire of his alabaster skin.

"I know. and this is why I am so sorry Sasuke." His lips cupped her lower petal and licked on her lavish lip with undone passion, caressing her with the tip of his sleek tongue in a wet erotic French kiss while his hands squeezed the curve of her waist massaging and skimming along the rippling slim thighs to part her legs and hoist her body up and Sakura eagerly coiled her long model legs around his firm hips in a tight lock of her ankles, pressing hard against his lower spine right above his toned ass.

Their ships grazed against one another in a delicious dance of heartbeats exploding in the rhythm of their love for each other, summoning that bonfire under the pits of their stomachs which burned in sheer anticipation and wanting everytime they were together, only for each other.

Sakura moaned loudly when she felt how lean he was and engorged as she rolled her hips against his bare ones relishing in the pulsating feeling of his masculine body sliding between her moist petal folds.

"I have -ah- crashed your...car." He would have been rolled his eyes at her statement, if Sasuke wouldn't have been busy slanting his hips and hammered into her in a way that knocked the wind out of their lungs, filling her in one fluid motion and her entire body convulsed and shivered as he filled her completely. He didn't go for a merciful peace.

He was rough, raw and passionate, fucking her hard against the wall while Sakura tried her best to fight that insane sweet oblivion stirred by pure passion and meet his thrusts halfway but she felt her limbs paralyzed in pleasure, tightening her embrace around the cord of his sculpted neck and broad shoulders, holding him tight and pressing her lips against his own, kissing him without grace and biting his lush lips.

Kisses exploded between them while their bodies twined and arched together over the swells of desire.

Sakura was positive that the vault of her chest will not be capable to contain the struggles of her unleashed heart as the poor organ`s wings were frenetically fluttered into her chest and begging to be liberated by the confinement of her carcass to soar to the sky.

When she cried his name in pure ecstasy, he was barely halfway there, keeping on thrusting forward, burying his face into the crook of his neck, while Sakura helplessly rounded her arms around his shoulders, leaning her cheek on his spicy ocean scented hair.

She swore the whole damn room was trembling and the floor was on fire. "It is just an item. Pay it no mind. It is you I am worried about."

Of course it was no big deal for someone like him who had an entire freaking collection of ridiculously expensive cars in his garage, but Sakura felt like a completely moron for taking his care and crashing it.

True, they were basically and unofficially being a couple for the last year, but still... sometimes she was having the stupid feeling of being a total intruder and taking advantage of him.

She wanted to look into his beautiful onyx eyes and see the truth his honesty mirrored there, but she couldn't even move, let alone see anything.

The crescent moons atop her manicured nails were buried into his shoulders, as vision started to fade and hormones uplifted her to nirvana. He kept on ramming inside her, like an unleashed animal, lust mixing into the hotness transpiring between their rocking slamming bodies, and she felt paralyzed.

She couldn't help but cry his name, while her back was scraping the wall and Sakura swore that if it weren't for Sasuke`s firm grip on her ass, she would have went flying right through it, into the garden.

Vaguely, she asked herself whether there was any maid or butler wandering around, while they were having graphic sex into the living room, but when a blizzard orgasm washed her orgasm and made her mind explode like broken crystals, she threw her head backwards and cried his name until her lungs gave out of pressure. "Fuck_ SASUKEH_!"

"You have no idea how worried I was, thinking that I almost lost you, love."

There were sizzling juices leaking down her thighs and ankles as her clasping throbbing inner walls took him on the swell of bliss with her, exploding inside her like a hurricane, groaning her name before his lips dipped down to kiss her orgasm infused parted lips softly, playing into her hair as her toes sli along his calves and touched the ground, still shaky. "Got anymore sins to confess, Sakura?"

"...I drank –ah– the last bottle of y-your –mmnn– favorite wine… before I run out of this house."

He laughed unabashedly at that particular confession and the whimsical childish pout on her sensual lips. Not smirked, not smiled, not chuckled at her, but a full hearted laugh.

Sasuke glued his forehead to his favorite promised rose haired woman, kissing the tip of her nose, tricking her into thinking that he was going to kiss her lips instead, and he managed to make her pout comically.

"Then I will simply find a new one to _enjoy_." Yes, from his huge wine caller which scared the hell out of her, because it was dark, dusty and rippling of huge spider nets.

Sasuke instructed his maids to not clean it, just because he was a secret incurable romantic freak who liked the old touch. Sakura knew he did it on purpose to laugh at her when they went down there, because she would

jump on his arms everytime something touched her skin, preferably spiders.

"I wore three of your dark shirts." In fact, she found a guilty demented pleasure to sneak into his wardrobe like an original stalker and wander through his expensive clothes. Good thing that no one witnessed that moment of insanity…

"As much as I would rather have you not wearing any, it only makes me want you even more."

"You are sex addicted, you know that?" Seriously, the fact that they could walk was a little wonder by itself.

Sakura lost the count of how many times she was his, but there was something that has changed from the moment she was discharged and she knew exactly way: the liberty she was reeling into, as a free woman.

Free from any commitments, free to be whoever and with whoever she wanted, free to be with Sasuke, be his and when the morning came, never leaving his side.

And that only spiked up the intimacy between them. They loved each other without boundaries and it was the soul the one to perceive it, and not the bodies.

"You are held accountable for being so addictive." Sasuke coiled a hand under her right knee, keeping one of her legs curled around his waist so that she won't fall against the wall at the way her knees trembled and her body convulsed in the post orgasmic state, showering the sensitive yielding skin of her neck, shoulders and jaw in loving kisses and she moaned aloud half shutting her eyelids in pure pleasure, warmth and tickles sprinkling along her limbs.

"Plus… you want me as well."

"I do. But I don't want your body only," She whispered upon his lips as Sasuke pressed a butterfly kiss

upon her lips, running his hands along her spine, ribs and waist, refraining from touching her sexually. He was soft, iconic as a lover. "I want everything you have, Sasuke."

As a future husband.

"You already have everything." And of course that he meant his heart and his soul as well and not only his material belongings, which were many and valuable.

"The only thing you are missing is my family name." He scooped her up into his strong arms bridal style while she let out a surprised yelp and brought her to the sofa, leaning against it with her tangled into him, wrapping her hands around his neck while Sasuke draped their bare forms with a blanket that was decorating the expensive piece of furniture, giggling like a schoolgirl and basking in the afterglow of their intense lovemaking.

Torpid glossy emerald gemstones stole a glance to her engagement ring as the precious stone reflected the life within her orbs, smiling widely at it when the concept matched Sasuke`s words. They will truly get married soon and despite the outlandish occurrence and their heated argument earlier, the fact that she will become his wife was a solid emotional fact that pulverized another useless frights.

"Uchiha… _Sakura_," She murmured lackadaisically while staring at her ring in complete contentment, probing the resonance of his name in conjunction with her own on her tongue, smiling at the perfect match. "I like how it sounds." It felt like magic to be related to Uchiha Sasuke –even in her dreams it still felt dreamy.

"Sorry," She blushed like a shy maiden while he gave her a curious look thinking that she was acting childish. "I must look really stupid."

"No." Sasuke whispered gently interlacing their fingers together and seeing how her smaller palm molded perfectly into his one and he brushed his lips along her knuckles in a swift kiss. "You have no idea how much I want you to become my wife and seeing that you are so enthusiastic makes me the happiest man, Sakura."

There was no way that Sakura would have realized it that Sasuke did not say 'the happiest man in the _world_' or 'the happiest man _alive_' and nor would it interest her, because the Uchiha was completely sincere.

He loved her beyond physical perception, he loved her with all his heart and now she belonged to him completely.

For the rest of eternity, Sakura was his and in the moment when she will accept his wedding ring, then no one will be able to break such a sacred union of souls, nothing and no one.

"You talk in the same affectionate way that makes me blush just like the first time we met, Sasuke." She reminisced with a small giggle, peeping outside the window and seeing how rain has fallen into a lulling gentle lullaby. The fireplace was dancing in sensual embers radiating of an inviting warmth and Sakura felt herself summoned by the spell of another sweet _slumber _trapped in such a perfect moment. "Do you still remember how we met?"

The look in his onyx eyes told her everything. There was no need for Sasuke to nod once to her and give her those delicious smirks that sent shivers and fireworks along her spine, but he did it courtly and because of etiquette, responding to the lady like a true gentleman. "Of course. How can I forget a moment of such importance?"

"Me neither. I think about it every day and it still feels so fresh into my memory. I felt so relieved that I have met you there and you approached me,"

She started randomly designing imaginary patterns against the marble skin of his chest, murmuring dreamily words that he already knew but he understood that she had to lift this weigh out of her shoulders so he patiently listened to her.

"I felt so alone and out of place then and Sai wasn't helping at all in fact, I think that he enjoyed to see me suffering in silence, that jerk."

* * *

**VI.**

**_~flashback~_**

* * *

Nothing around made any sense to her. It was the first impression that nurtured into Sakura`s mind as her insides were clenching and throbbing in an explainable anxiousness arising from the pits of her stomach to rest down her throat, where a painful lump was forming.

Of course, the exquisite rosette was doing her best to conceal her inner turmoil and lack of confidence to shine on the exterior, where she tried to keep a balanced posture of both delight and casualness, so as to blend in with the dames strolling around, all bedecking the arms of their respective escorts.

And so was Sakura, traipsing lazily along the honey polished marble floor, following the long line of guests who were entertaining themselves with bubbling silvery Champagne and light animated chatter, all paying attention to everyone and no one, being mild interested by keeping an animated mood around and not fall into the same cliché routine, failing considerably.

Sai was wearing a fine tuxedo that fitted him like a glove and the same archetype indifferent expression on his face, not once gracing his fiancé with more than two hurried lines about te host of the party and the purpose of that semi-exhibition and reception.

They walked in just like the other guests, they have been served with a fancy drink to keep their free hand occupied, while the other was hooked to one another in a very far stretched display of intimacy, they smiled in that polite forced fake way to every reticent beam sent their way just like the others and found a small circle of Sai`s companions and colleagues to engage in a boring conversation, just like the others.

One hour in that Ball and Sakura was already regretting the hours of shopping and the pajama party that she, Naruto and Ino have planned for the weekend.

So far, she has only served one single purpose and that was to look pretty beside her fiancé who was very sought by his fellow artists who lived in their own autistic hermetic world, where no one was invited to step in, so she felt quite left alone.

Up until now, she has only been addressed two or three random questions about her career but apparently when being an aspiring medic coming from a middle class was not seeing like extraordinary into the crème de la crème, rather than a petty wannabe in a cute dress and matching jewelry, all courtesy of Sai`s mother, who insisted that she couldn't appear next to her son in a cheap attire and embarrass their family reputation, so she dragged her to a round of agonizing shopping and dressed Sakura in the most uncomfortable clothes ever.

The people were educated and refined but they seemed to throw her weary glances like she was clearly a foreigner amidst them even though she was doing her best to be graceful and polite but so far being seen with Sai was seemingly not such a privilege but whatever she had to go through this for about three of four hours at most and then when the lunch will be served she could enjoy her meal in silence and not be forced to socialize.

Good God…

"I am going for a gust of fresh air, excuse me." She mumbled to the apathetic dark haired male beside her who was engaged in a very intense conversation about Renaissance and Medieval paining style and not even waiting for his answer –which will be just as bored and uninterested, Sakura slide her hand away of his –forced- outstretched for her one and traipsed on the opposite side of the Ball room in the direction of the beautiful huge balcony, releasing a deep exhale of pure distress.

She was almost reeling with this uncomfortable feeling of being watched through smug irises following her briefly and being a piece of gossip was always a pain in the ass to the rosette.

She did her best to keep her pose straight and proud and not scrunch her shoulders in pure embarrassment because she had a newfound determination –keep herself high and confident because like Hell was she a commoner among them.

She wasn't exactly poor and she had a bright career as a medic ahead so what was the use of self-eliminating her from their society?

"Wow, so calm and so good…" She let out a glossy smile to grace her silky organza lips when she curled her fingers around the railing of the balcony, admiring the filigree decorations around, the twinkles of the velvety eclipse night sky like diamonds on lace, the fretwork technique used for the sculptures dotting the bushes of ornamental exotic flowers in the most exquisite shades of the rainbow and she found her shoulders immediately relieve tension.

There were not so many people skimming along the balcony as the majority were glued to the buffet of fancy aperitifs, the bar with the overflowing bubbling champagne or the dancing floor, exuding their dancing skills and following the Ballroom dancing routines flawlessly with their giggling escorts.

"What might be the reason for a lady like you escorting such a tactless barbarous person, Miss?" Sakura almost jumped high in surprise when a voice that seemed like torn from the lullaby of the night addressed her so casually and she spun around like a ballerina, long evening shimmering gown flaring ethereally around her gazelle ankles enhancing the fluid motion.

And for two seconds, time stood suspended in the limbs of eternity refusing to write the words in the sand and count down the minutes passing. Blinking not to lose the breathtaking sight presenting before her stunned widened emerald gemstones became as impossible as breathing felt useless and laborious.

Sakura stood pinned to the floor and oblivious to the surroundings which seemed to dissipate into an alternate second plan of her consciousness, because she would have expected anything else and anyone else to engage her into a conversation, but not _this _person.

The fact that her jaw didn't hit the floor in a totally unceremoniously sign of lack of manners, it was only because Sakura was too stunned to have any control over her body that grew tense, alert and completely limp, while taking in exactly who was he addressing her without any formal unnecessary arrogance in his atmosphere, albeit his grace did nothing to diminish the elegance in his manners and by God… this was better than any aphrodisiac.

Out of all the people that she would expect to attempt to try a conversation with her, knowing that so far only one of two women who were equally bored and accompanying Sai`s friends have made small chatter with her, it was exactly the one who Sakura was positive that someone like him will never even spared someone like her a glance, let alone acknowledge her or approach her like they were close encounters.

Uchiha _Sasuke _pulverized any wild fantasies that any woman who set her eyes on him might have nourished while only seeing him in the magazines or TV and coincidentally or not, he was standing right behind her, barely leaving three comfortable steps between their bodies clearly talking to _her _and not someone else who might have been walking past her by chance.

Those eyes… the obsidian pools who borrowed from the radiance of a lustrous black polished sapphire gemstone were set on her, flaming like burning charcoals and trapping her into a mesmerizing universe which consisted in only the two of them and no one else.

She knew who he was of course, who didn't? This man was the heir of a billion dollar Inc. whose fame spread across the globe and reaching its paramount rapidly and not to mention that his wealth and social status made Sai`s exclusive circle look like a cheap circus of clowns and this was just obvious from the smallest groups that were sprinkled around the huge Ball room talking and conversing only to themselves and not mingling with the other 'commoners' –like her and her stupid fiancé, and while Sai was extremely offended by this, Sakura on the other had had enough common sense to sense the irony into it and laugh aloud inside at the absurdity of the situation.

But the fact that Uchiha was ridiculously wealthy, there was something else that stood out above everything else and now that she saw him in real life for the first time, Sakura felt that the virtual space was not giving him enough credit and nor did the gossip and the paparazzi.

He was beyond gorgeous looking and simply putting it like this seemed like an overused superficial cliché, but it was the undeniable truth and here is where a rational woman like Sakura who was hardly a dreamer and a materialistic woman lost it for real.

She couldn't believe how was it possible for a man to look like this and not be a figment of her imagination or some Hollywood famous actor or a male model.

Dear lord… she simply found herself pinned to her place while her orbs travelled slowly and steadily along his lissome form, admiring, breathing and marveling at the deluxe specimen before her, while her mind has been paralyzed by an electric voltage –akin to how his ravishing presence was, absolutely electrifying.

Wow!

Neck arched to encompass his tall athletic form landed on his visage as Sasuke simply gazed right back to her totally unfazed by how she was drooling over him –of course being accustomed to ladies ogling him whenever he went, and by all the Heavens above this man resembled a painting of a Crown Prince in a famous museum.

Sakura has only seen so striking patrician features on the members of royal families and even they weren't so polished in angles and shadows.

The high cheeks framed by a masculine rough and sharp angular jawline enhanced the sumptuous beauty of this aristocratic male, highlighted by the pearl alabaster skin and the contras with his complementing ebony hair and equally bottomless onyx eyes made him practically glow among the other people.

When Sasuke was around, he was the only one that eyes could comprise making the rest of the guests pale in comparison and be diminished in both appearance and social status, he was unmistakable and absolutely breathtaking.

Not to mention he had such an absolute sense of aesthetics in the way he was dressed and never in her life has Sakura seen a custom made dark royal navy Armani suit look so flawless on someone but it was simply impossible to peel her eyes off him, he was like a wet dream coming true.

Those lush thin lips were pressed in a firm line albeit never losing a mysterious sensuality, his aura oozed of an overdose of confidence, grace and asceticism, the laconic personality and superior attitude fitted him like a glove.

He was so incredibly dark and attractive and the way he gazed to the others seemingly not to be perturbed by anything and anyone only left his audience desire him more.

This male pulverized every archetype of beauty and beau monde, he was indescribable mesmerizing and not to mention there was something incredibly erotic about him beside the royal standoffish attitude and explicit handsomeness, something that Sakura couldn't place but her physical reaction was evident.

The more Sasuke was staring into her widened viridian gemstones with those tempting big almond shaped onyx eyes, the more her throat became dry and craving for something _succulent _and her body temperature reached an unusual fever, making her yielding porcelain skin prickle with burning sweat despite the cool perfumed zephyr brushing through her hair and clothes –she felt _hotter_ than ever.

In all honestly Sakura had absolutely zero perception over the flow of time which became just an unimportant trivia, because it was in the moment when she allowed her stinging orbs to glimmer a several times has she summoned back her modesty and composed herself, stopping ogling the gorgeous man before her like the most ungracious desperate call girl and straightened her pose, still fighting that constriction into the pits of her navel which sated to constrict her and pulsate through her body, making her grow so very aroused –something which was totally ungraceful and unacceptable at such a reception but she couldn't help herself.

There was something electrically about this man something that Sakura hasn't seen in anyone, her fiancé included.

Yes, there were many other extremely tempting and lush handsome men around her and even if she would rather not admit it, Sai her fiancé had his fair share of appeal about him no doubt about it, but Uchiha Sasuke… he was something else and he exuded of an aura of pure sensuality and noblesse that no one else had, none. He was so unique and so painfully beautiful.

She mentally slapped herself back into reality and tried to overcome this so overused fangirl attitude, brushing an hand through her elegant half up do more to divert her attention that wouldn't leave this man and replied him in her pleasant violin tune, trying to keep the rudeness out of her voice and remembering what he meant with his first words –it was a miracle that she still remembered what he said.

"Excuse me?" Emerald orbs blinked once as she fought the blush that threatened to tinge her ivory cheeks and the prickles of a tomato red shade staining her earlobes, finding her voice again and mentally cursing herself for how it went one octave higher like she was a high school student with a crush on an older guy from another class. "Sai is my fiancé. I should be offended because of you insulting my spouse."

"But you are not."

She wasn't sure because the shimmering lights coming from the elegant decorations weren't helping her decipher every single detail of his composed mannerism but Sakura could swear that Sasuke has smirked arrogantly to her like easily reading into her heart like an open scroll and this almost made her fly off the handle. "I think you are crossing the line, Mr. Uchih–"

"–Sasuke." He interjected into her lame attempt to play the decent engaged lady –who was unabashedly gasping and ogling him like he was a Deity spellbinding a mortal, correcting her and the way he seemed so willing to be so very personal with her made something tickle inside her chest.

This man has only addressed her two lines and she was already getting more accustomed to his magnetizing presence in her vicinity and in fact, she was positive that he dared one step to her, cutting the distance between them.

A fugitive glance over his lean shoulder has made Sakura even more nervous realizing that the ones who caught the sight of Sasuke were already staring in question at his odd choice to address _her _who was a nobody by _his _standards but apparently Uchiha was as unpredictable as a tubular wave.

"I would rather keep it impersonal if you do not mind, Sir."

When Sasuke didn't respond to her and simply opted to look at her with his head slightly cocked on his side just enough for those lustrous silky raven locks to spill on his forehead and brush over his obsidian eyes in a playful seductive way, a lump knotted into her throat preventing Sakura to inhale normally and that sensation sent electric shivers all along her limbs and spine.

"You will leave him soon."

"W-What–?" She stammered and the shock of his forward approach stunned her beyond belief. She couldn't believe what he said talking in a confident annoying way like he knew all about her, when in reality she was just a very bored lady who was simply average and unknown, among the overflowing packed with others like her ladies out there.

"Why so certain ? If you don't mind me asking." Albeit, she decided that if he decided to be the bored loaded businessmen in search for a little mind game, then she will prove it to this pompous prick that she wasn't like all the other women.

Sakura had no idea where this needing to be acknowledge by him and prove her wroth to him was coming from but this became unthinkable when his tempting lips curled in a devilish smirk and for one nanosecond her ticking heart stopped ticking life through her. Something about his smirk… oh dear Heavens…

"Because angels don't belong among filthy cheap demons. They should stay in Paradise." From there on out, Sakura has been at loss of what happened but next thing she knew when Sasuke cut the distance between them in two steady steps, traipsing like a striking elegant splendid puma and stepping into her comfort zone, being hit by his intoxicating perfume of raw nature elements and rich wine making her toes curl in pleasure within the vault of her elegant fancy heels and a fine hands hand traveled up the curve of her waist.

The moment his fingertips touched her skin along the sateen and organza fabric of her dress which molded like a cascade of stars encompassing a glass flute of bubbling champagne on her nymph curves, Sakura lost her mind for real and her vision got befogged and unfocused.

She didn't realize the music playing in the background from the reputed artists in a choir of angelic tunes of Jazz melodies has stopped.

"Seeing that you are already familiar with my name would normally make it impractical for me to repeat it, but etiquette obliges me to properly introduce myself to you, Miss,"

Whatever he was sprinkling in that low baritone pressing the syllables like a Latino bass guitar has not registered into Sakura`s mind, only when his left hand twined into her right one that was limp brushing over the fold of her dress and brought her knuckles on his lips, slowly and not breaking the eye contact planting a curtly kiss on her hand, whispering the words to her. "Uchiha Sasuke, it is a _pleasure_."

Why in the world was Uchiha Sasuke being so adamant in personally greeting her Saur was at loss for a plausible explanation and even though it was probably because of a trivial reason, she couldn't care less because in the moment when his lips touched her skin, she felt her mouth go dry and craving to _taste _him. "I wish you an _enchanting _evening, Miss _Haruno._"

She could almost melt into a puddle of caramel and flutter in a whirlwind of hearts at the way he rolled her family name out of his ravishing lips, not forgetting to add a ghost of a sensual smirk to its resonance and never in her life has someone enhanced the resonance in her unimportant name like this.

"W-Wha–"

Just as abruptly and swift as a gust of a tender Autumn wind, Sasuke pulled back from her like nothing happened turned on his heel and presented her with a delicious view of his chiseled back briefly turning his masculine profile on her to breathe so only for her to hear him and mindful of the curious orbs around them.

"–When you are ready to face the truth that your heart is speaking...sought me out. I will be waiting." Just as unexpectedly as he approached her, Sasuke slide his hands into his pockets –a gesture which albeit rude for such a formal party, looked so classy and elegant on him, and she lost his form back into the luminous Ballroom seeing him approach a small group which consisted in the host of the party and seemingly aristocrats of his caliber, traipsing like nothing happened.

She had to blink for several times, turning on her heel and shakily grip the railing for dear life, inhaling sharply to calm the harmonization of her maddening heart, as the poor organ went haywire into her chest and almost made her reeling from the sudden rush of adrenaline.

"Oh my God…" She had this sudden stupid impulse to smile widely and even though this entire small chatter was simply a onetime encounter –maybe a source of amusement to him seeing that there was no logical explanation for someone like Uchiha Sasuke to approach a woman like her, for Sakura it was worth the drag of accompanying Sai here and suddenly she felt more upbeat and less of a s_tranger _here.

"Uchiha… _Sasuke_." She smiled stupidly placing a hand along her mouth to prevent herself from grinning like the mesmerized woman that she was, throwing a quick perusal around to see if someone was watching her and except for two or three curios scoffing women around that _were far away from her place, she was safe. "God he is so handsome…" She couldn't believe that she_ had the honor to meet him.

"I can't wait to tell Ino about it, that pig will be jealous as hell." Knowing that Yamanaka Ino was updated with all the gossip about the hottest celebrities around and he was no exception.

She lingered for two more minutes into the lulling serenity of the night falling prey to the magical melody that the skilled live band was producing from their elegant instruments, Sakura detached from the balcony and padded back into the ballroom and to her probably expecting fiancé all the while she couldn't help but threw subtle glances around to see if she could discreetly catch a glimpse of the gorgeous Uchiha heir in the crowd and she sadly didn't.

"What a flashy character." Those were the very words that Sai has addressed her the moment she returned back to his side, being in the same place that she has left him for God only knows how much time but in the company of two more unfamiliar faces.

She politely greeted them both –a fancy pair of older man and a woman, who smiled brightly to her in return, being genuinely warm to her and she welcomed this change in the scenery.

Uchiha is a lucky charm, she couldn't help but inwardly smile at the memory and part of her buoyant attitude reflected into her general aura.

"What?" It took Sakura a moment to understand what was he referring to. "Who are you talking about Sai?" She leaned forward to whispering into his ear, mimicking his gesture.

"Don't turn into another damn fangirl of his. It gives me– _us_ a bad reputation." Oh for the love of… Sasuke, he was the man that her fiancé was talking to and she was confused as in how was he updated with their brief steamy introduction, but then again that artist had an uncanny sense of details since he was a painter but she didn't realize that he might see them.

His laconic words about Sai and the difference in class between Uchiha and her fiancé came ricocheting back to r and it was now when Sakura realized that Sai was not exactly at the top of the beau monde, no matter how arrogant him and his family was.

"I am not lusting for him so please don't insult me. In fact i have just stood up for you in front of him, because he insulted you." Albeit she didn't feel too affected by it, not surprisingly since her feelings for Sai were nowhere near romantic or affectionate, only complacent.

Se wondered why was she putting up with this façade? For social status? For her mother`s sake? For the fact that her love life has been nonexistent and all that she was interested in was her medical career and she didn't care about love and affection.

"Of course you did. You are my fiancé. It is your job. You did something that I would have done too." She doubted it that he would defend her like this since he has been all cold and detached to her –minus the moments when he was drunk and more expressive and easygoing in his apathetic gestures, but then again he would probably do that out of common courtesy.

She remembers that someone has once called her a filthy commoner behind her back and Sai stood out for her. It was one of those rare moments when they looked like a genuine pair.

Good think that in a mass of young gold diggers parading around clinging to the outstretched arms of much older men, a young couple consisting in her and Sai was something much more elegant and seemingly natural.

But it was quite a funny thing to see –one that she, Naruto and Ino gossiped about during lunch break, to see those sluts ogling younger handsome males while being accompanied by those dudes who could be their grandparents.

This was the most comedy that she could take from this type of select events. That or when some of the most libertine ones were getting drunk or in some altercations.

"I didn't do it out of duty. I did it because you will be my husband. It was out of reflex." Yeah… sure, it was more like she didn't find something more intelligent to say in the presence of _the _Uchiha Sasuke, something that wasn't completely dumb and childish.

But she could go with that lie naturally. She didn't need to tell him whatever she was inwardly thinking about.

"Whatever you say." He mumbled with no emotion whatsoever playing on his detached voice. "Let's move." He offered her his arm which she took it, curling her hand around his bicep and following his lead. "I want you to meet some fellow colleges."

She went along with him to a group of funny looking artists who appeared to be engaged into a heated conversation meanwhile throwing glances around to the mood of the party and looking absorbed at the dancing people silently wishing for Sai to accompany her to a dance but he will not be caught dead doing something so childish and horrific –his words.

She along with another woman who she learned that was also engaged to one of those men in polished tuxedos were looking broadly at the men who were conversing about something which sounded rocket science to them, not understanding a thing, then started to throw curious glances around to follow the mood of the party when something flashed at the corner of her emerald orbs and immediately she grew tense and her entire body seemed to burst into sizzling embers of a mysterious engulfing bonfire.

Uchiha Sasuke was staying close enough for her to see his delicious limber form while he was sipping from a glass of what appeared to be whiskey and chatting with an equally attractive older man, but unlike Sai and his freaky artist companion, those people were more relaxed and looked in a superior way to anyone else, although they kept an impersonal polite manner of greeting them briefly.

She couldn't peel her eyes of him and she was glad that he was in her field of view because now she won't get bored while following a rather stale alien conversation about a topic that didn't interest her in the bit.

She didn't have to turn around and get the evidence of it because Sakura was certain that the other woman beside her was ogling him just as she did and she wanted to laugh at the irony of it.

Now that she was not in his radar, Sakura could study the effect he had on the others and make sure that she wasn't completely demented and impolite, confirming the fact that indeed, almost every single woman was staring at him.

Of course, Sasuke paid them no mind and only looking at his company and the other man was doing all the talking occasionally smiling softly to him while Sasuke threw him occasional smirks approving and only intervening when he was being asked for an opinion.

He truly didn't strike as a blabbering talkative type of man and that was exactly what was so special about his charm –he seemed unreachable and so aloof that was irresistible.

Sakura slowly let her orbs travel along his form that was breathtaking in those stylish clothes he were, imagining what type of body was draped in them, because no matter how formal he was dressed, that slim white shirt underneath did less than nothing to conceal the rippling muscles of his torso and abdomen, on the contrary they rippled everytime he merely flexed his hand to bring the glass to his lips and that motion alone made her innards tremble in desire.

Oh God she was being here in the middle of a select crowd in the company of her fiancé and drooling over another man but she couldn't help herself –just like no woman was capable of doing, younger or older.

Uchiha was the epitome of splendor, nobility and tact; he was so superior so tasteful so chivalrous and.. .he caught her staring unabashedly at him when he abruptly flickered his obsidian orbs in her direction.

It took everything in her willpower not to slam a hand against her forehead at how stupid she was. IT took him less than a nanosecond to create a ghost of a flirtatious smirked to her while bringing his cup of lush beverage to his lips and taking a taste of it slowly and almost sensually, holding her gaze and thus keeping her trapped into that intense lock of gazes.

She was fast as lightning –almost _too_ fast and making it all too obvious that she was embarrassed, when she whirled her head backwards making her hair swirl with much effect brushing along her bare shoulders and mumbling under her breath.

_Stupid stupid stupid stupi-_

The most intelligent thing she could do to cover for her imbecility was to take a generous gulp of her own fruity cocktail and almost empty it just to alleviate those mental images and the tingles along her libs which came along with a restless feeling coursing throughout her system, all courtesy to the handsome Uchiha male whose unfathomable eyes were still boring into her nape, burning her skull –se could feel his eyes on her, she didn't need to turn around and confirm it.

"Atop drinking you are making a fool of yourself. I don't want a drunk fiancé to embarrass me." Oh, she couldn't have been more thankful for Sai`s stupid voice interjecting into her thoughts that were slowly drifting to dangerous places –that they shouldn't, when he hissed to her.

"I not drunk, you asshole." She hissed to him, a deep frown latched to his pale visage at her choice of words." She so hoped that he didn't caught her staring at another male again.

"I am bored I don't understand a thing from what you are talking about and neither is _she._" She subtly pointed out to the girl that was about the same age at her and was whispering at her own company probably complaining about the same thing.

Sakura fought the need to laugh at loud at the way her mocha eyes were constantly shuffling behind her most likely searching for the eye contact with a certain Uchiha Sasuke.

"I cannot phantom how can this be my fault that you don't have a clue about art. How about you entertain yourself with some aperitifs while I am finishing my conversation here and join you later on?"

He suggested and Sakura happily complained. She couldn't brush off this feeling that Sai was slightly _jealous _that she seemed to have eyes for another more tempting than him man and this made her happy. At least he seemed to have some feelings for her, despite his uninterested façade.

"Hm," Just before she had the chance to take one step from Sai, a man from their group spoke rudely. "I think that you should consider dating a lady from your social circle, Mr. Arakawa and same goes for you, Mr. Yakushi." He also not so subtly pointed out to the other woman –Anko was her name?

"You find me at the buffet." Burning tears amassed into the depts. Of her aureate viridian orbs when Sakura whispered on the verge of tears to Sai and didn't even wait to hear if he was defending her for she stroll to the buffet and inhaling sharply twice as a sob almost pass her but she did her best to hold it back.

She couldn't let it see that those words hurt her beyond belief, knowing that she might not be the most educated woman in the world, but now that she heard such rejection she was afraid that she will never be good enough for Sai.

_They_ will never work…

She wanted to cry out of sudden and that unexplainable change in her internal calmness was something that the rose haired woman couldn't explain, but those tears amassed down the lump of her throat were screaming and begging to be released.

Sakura wanted nothing more than to be inside her room or at her best friend's home and bury her teary face into a plush pillow or Ino`s shoulder and cry her poor eyes out or at least run away from there, feeling suddenly so alone and alienated and this solitude almost had her drop down on her knees-

"I would recommend the lobster, the Kobe beef and the caviar for starters. They go excellently with the white wine."

She almost jumped out of her skin again when _his _voiced penetrated till the depths of her heart and pulverized the depressing feelings churning inside.

Sakura threw her head over her shoulder only to find Sasuke standing beside her and gazing at the food before him.

One small particular gesture of hers had the Uchiha chuckle low and darkly from his chest because she turned to son the other side to make sure that he was talking to her and not to someone else and indeed, Sasuke was addressing _her._

"I-I was not... I am not hungry..." She was positive that she was blabbering and stuttering like Hyuga Hinata but she couldn't help herself, Uchiha was an overwhelming presence.

"You feel like you don't fit in and this makes me very curious. In such cases of obvious disquiet and uneasiness," he turned entirely to her having one hand spanned to her in silent invitation and Sakura froze on the spot with the plate almost sliding from her hand. Those eyes… "People would enjoy the panoramic scenery on the veranda. Shall we?"

She could t help but nod in agreement not being capable of refusing him. She didn't even realize he placed a plate of aperitifs on her hands, filling it with mouthwatering delicacies that made her stomach beg to be filled. "Thank you." She was afraid to call him by his name and he observed it as well but as always, he was anything but rude to her.

"You don't have to be so afraid to talk to me." Sasuke gave her a small side smirk while offering her a hand and she involuntarily snuck a small hand around his own, almost feeling shy and flustered to lock her digits around his arm at the way his bicep bulked under her touch when he flexed it –unlike Sai who was rather thin and had the body of a still pubescent teenager. "I don't _bite."_

Oh th way he said something so concupiscent sent electric shot straight between her legs and she simply could not stop the tremors making her shudder at his erotic leathery low infection. "Come."

She followed him obediently back to the balcony –where they have met half an hour ago, observing that there were even more twinkling stars and lights illuminating the place as the night was taking over the realm of the sky.

Couples enjoying and being intimate with each other were sprinkled around them mindless of anyone else than their escorts, drinking eating watching the sky taking fresh air. She felt instantly more relaxed and Sasuke silently observed it as well.

She tasted what Sasuke has placed for her on the plate inwardly moaning at the feel of the mouthwatering food –or it tasted better because of the company and stated out of the blue, since he was being silent as a grave beside her. "I am not familiar with arts."

Of course that it came out as a line that only an unsophisticated laid would say but somehow admitting it out loud to Uchiha Sasuke didn't seem such a big deal. He was making her feel unusually comfortable when God only knew that she was boiling inside.

He immediately responded her in that silky calm voice that lulled her into a desirous world. "You don't have to. The key is to praise the subtlety of the painting and praise the hidden message between the abstract painting and the symbolic shadows and lights. Even if anyone can see it is just a meaningless piece of shit which looks like something that I have drawn while being completely drunk."

She laughed out loud at the colloquial words that traveled out of his mouth and she simply couldn't believe her ears that someone like him could be so casual and still preserve his exquisite cultivation.

Foe the first time that night, her entire atmosphere seemed to glow brighter than the moon above and illuminated the entire veil of the night with a luminous radiance coming from her heart.

Her soul was pure than a rare pearl into the depths of the cold ocean when she laughed so freely and in that violin tender voice.

He was charmed to see her like that and Sasuke found himself being completely captivated by this side of her. She was sad the first time they met and clearly insulted and on the verge of crying now when he decided to step in and prevent a public humiliation –he kept his eyes on her everytime.

She was as melodic as a carousel box and Sasuke simply couldn't take his eyes off this woman.

Beautiful beyond words…

"Thank you…" She said while brushing off a rolling tear from the corner of her shimmering jadeite crystalline eye but this time, they were tears of joy and not sadness. "…_Sasuke_"

She probed his name on her tongue liking how naturally his exquisite name rolled and somehow being edgy and unsure of how informal would he allow her to be or if he would allow her to address shim by the first name and without honorifics.

But when he only nodded to her clearly not bothered by her approach, she grew more confident and less anxious around him and went on making conversation.

"Are this partied always like this?" She asked because she couldn't stand the magnetic silence between them and he was not a man of much words, so she took the example of the male he was talking to earlier and engaged him into a conversation.

"You mean boring? Usually yes, unfortunately." He responded courtly and honestly and somehow this made her smile softly to him again. She thought that he was so arrogant by definition that she will never be able to address him two words, but Sasuke proved her wrong.

"I don't think I will ever get used to this... his world." Ok now she was getting personal talking about her intimate life but somehow those words came to her mouth before she could stop it.

Both of them knew that she meant her fiancé`s social circle. "It depends on the company." Sasuke answered cryptically and yet he couldn't be any more correct.

"Mr. Uchi– Sasuke…" Sakura nipped on her lower lip –the motion immediately made his obsidian orbs travel to her mouth, eschewing her jade orbs from his intense ones, her voice going softer and more… reticent.

"Ade you possibly... ehm ...flirting with me?" Oh my god, she couldn't believe that she had the audacity to ask something so outrageous. A small blush made its way to her high cheeks.

"What do you take me for? A teenager?" There was something in his voice that had Sakura briefly wonder whether it would be a good opportunity to turn around and jump off the balcony.

"I am not the man to traipse in such juvenile paths." And by that, he probably felt insulted enough to give her a retort and point to the obvious fact that someone like him didn't need to go as far as to lure a lady, because his presence, his looks and family name were enough to bring her any woman he desired with a simple meaningful look.

Like duh… why would _he _flirt with someone like _her _when there were many other more irresistible women to choose from?

_Someone please shoot me now!_

"You are right. I am sorry for my idiocy, I didn't mean to insult you. This was an ungraceful and dumb thing to ask. I tend to blabber a lot when I am this–"

Oh God, someone please slap a hand down her mouth and stop her from embarrassing herself further!

"–Excited?" Was that her mouth going wide and her jaw hitting the floor the sound of shattering porcelain or did she truly drop the plate she was holding?

And why did she feel the need to rub her thighs together and alleviate a constriction like a knot pulsating within the vault of her intimate places?

He was turning her on with his voice and presence alone and he was not even brushing his fingers –or any other parts of his body, against her, dear Lord!

She immediately changed the course of that conversation. "Nervous."

"Am I making you _that _uncomfortable?"

"N-No!" He smirked at the way she rushed to answer and assure him she was not feeling any discomfort while in his presence.

She mentally cursed herself for showing such an unladylike display of lack of manners.

"Damn...I did it again. I am sorry. You must be I am a desperate unmannered woman." He couldn't help but look at the way she pouted like a child, brushing an invisible lock of her flawless up do out of disquiet, and he could read her body language like it was his own diary.

She was jittery yet the areola around her irises was scintillating golden in the mass of hundreds twinkling lights around them, emphasizing the unique shade and the grace of her untouched beauty.

_Damn. _

She was so beautiful.

For the entire nigh, Uchiha simply couldn't keep his eyes away from her and he decided to fructify any chances he got to get close to her whenever she wasn't in the presence of that unimportant fellow that she called fiancé.

"You are mistaken. I am not a man to rush in judging the others and I hardly have preconceptions."

He slipped his hands into his pockets, a symbolic peculiar gesture he was doing, it was casual and too eccentric for a classy party, yet he did it so elegantly and sexily that no one would held him accountable for it and leaned against the railing.

"It is not in my character… as a_ businessman_."

They kept silent after his confession but it was not one of those awkward moments when no one knew what to say and not make a fool of themselves on the contrary Sakura found herself enjoying his company all the while she was busy stuffing her face with the lobster –true to his word, it was a delicacy– unsure whether she was eating that thing properly -she hasn't choked on anything yet so she guessed it was fine, and she was almost tempted to look into the internet and find out, but she would embarrass herself in front of him, unsure of what to say.

It was not an uncomfortable silence, but one oozing of a mysterious alien feeling that she has never experienced. She wanted to tell him something smart, surprise him, make him acknowledge her somehow... but she had no idea what to do. What did a man like him expecting from someone like her?

It was him to save the appearances and address her, since his orbs were reading through her mannerism like an open scroll and sensed her distress and reticence, but her lack of trust in her worth was making Sasuke curious.

"Why have you chosen someone who is unwilling to introduce you to his entourage and is completely unfazed by your discomfort?" He elegantly pointed out to that emotionally retarded fiancé of hers.

Sakura stopped eating the lobster staring down her plate and drew her eyebrows together in a semi frown not actually being sure of how to answer such a personal question without making it too obvious that it was a marriage for convenience and not one of two people who loved each other genuinely.

"It is just... the way he is, I guess... I am the one unable to communicate and enter his circle of acquaintances as I come from a normal family. They keep on talking about arts and paintings, but to me, it is a foreign language. I just have to smile and pretend to understand and not embarrass him."

He rose an eyebrow at him and she used a napkin to wipe some caviar from the corner of her mouth, and unconsciously he shifted his eyes on her lips where they seemed to linger longer than necessarily. "His words, not mine."

"Hn. An arranged marriage I assume."

She nodded to him in pure embarrassment when Sasuke smirked at her in a way that was letting her know that these was not something unseen or alien to him on the contrary those kind of marriages were so frequent among his social circle that no one was making such a tragedy out of it.

"Your presumption is correct. Although, I am not sure whether I should have confirmed it."

He could see it in her pose that she was trying to be a lady, to act like a high class, guessing that she was from a normal family, who was trying to accede to a higher world, but he also knew that she needed help.

And yet, she was trying her best to act stylish and managed. It was just that she was talking to him that he could peel those layers off her, because the other men were talking about how mesmerizing and seductive she was.

"Then, I estimate that it is only fair to share a _secret _with you, since you have confessed such an intimate thing. It is supposed to be the main attraction for tonight, but I will let you know that they planned fireworks for midnight.

From here, you will have an exclusive vista of them." She understood that it was the reason why he lead her in that faraway corner of the balcony and blushed and smiled at him.

She couldn't believe how natural and easy was to talk to him. He was nowhere the man she was seeing on the TV: hard steel, stoic, untouchable, impenetrable and unflappable.

Sasuke was so gallant, polite, irresistible, charming, educated and intelligent, without being vulgar ,exaggerated.

Sakura saw the way Sai introduced himself to the others and he had the inborn reflex to bow down maybe too deep while shaking hands, but never Sasuke.

His spine was lean as a fire tree, his stance was lean and indomitable and his chin never dipped down. He was firm, high, classy, superior and masculine in all the glorious splendor of manhood and finesse.

"I think I should head back to him–"

It came more as a question than an actual determination and Sakura couldn't believe that she found herself sad that she had to part ways with this man after all she was unsure whether she will ever have the pleasure to meet Uchiha Sasuke again and talk to him like this and sure enough it would be more than impolite and inelegant to seek him out after the party.

"And yet... for the entire night, you couldn't keep your eyes away from _me_. Am I mistaken?"

"I am sorry to having offended you."

"If you want to blend into this world for real then stop apologizing all the times. It gives the impression that you are easily to bent to anyone`s will. Humbleness and correctitude are qualities to be praised, but among the white sharks, it is only a flaw and a weakness."

She felt instantly stupid and the way her stunning unique emerald golden eyes eschew from his onyx ones and averted towards the railing while she was chewing on her lower lip made Sasuke instantly regret and feel guilty for saying it the way he did.

He already knew that she was pretty uncomfortable by the entire situation and being accompanied by a man she didn't love and who didn't respect her nor cherished her must hurt a lot.

Sakura lowered her plate and let it rest upon her tummy when a sinking feeling made her feel like praying to melt into the floor.

She felt insulted but at the same time she knew that Uchiha was right, albeit the feeling of being pathetic and so weak was lacerating through her heart and the fact that it was Sasuke the one to say it hurt her worse than Sai`s coldness towards her.

Sasuke could clearly see those mesmerizing orbs welling with unshed tears that were smothered under her curly eyelashes and this explained the brusque motion of the rose haired lady whirling around against the wind blowing through her eyes and crystalline lucent tears swayed from her eyes, entangling into her fluttering hair.

He followed intently the way she kept her shoulders lean and straight not letting it show that she was being vulnerable, trying zealously to be strong, but he knew she would rather jump of the balcony out of shame.

This woman was absolutely ethereal. It was out of reflex what he did next when Sasuke uplifted his left hand towards her cheek, and delicately, like caressing the petals of a delicate flower, he brushed his thumb under her emerald bathed in light and tears eye, cupping her cheek, making her flinch and turn her face to look at him.

He wiped the tear that aligned with her light brown rimmeled curbed eyelashes and his onyx eyes filled with a mystical warmth. Her lips quivered with unshed words which refused to slip past her lips. What was he doing to her?

"My words, as calloused as I am aware they were, were just hypothetical. As far as I am concerned, you should never change just to blend in, for no one. In front of the monsoon, the cherry blossom never loses purity, as its perfume is being carried by its wings."

He whispered to her, and she stepped into the abode of grace and luxury, coming dangerously close to him. She didn't realize that she was very close to him. Everything about them filled her like bubbling sparkling champagne filling a flute glass.

His scent of chimerical indomitable strength, the amalgamation of fire, water and forest penetrated her mind, making her senses go haywire. The incandescent warmth, the sensuality of his astonishing beauty, the softens of his touch, she was spell bounded.

She forgot her damn name, she forgot about Sai, she forgot about where she was, she forgot there was a floor beneath her feet and a full round sparkling moon above, she forgot everything but the name of 'God' dancing on her lips and him.

"Out of all the things we can waste, time is the only thing that we should spend wisely. And it is such a shame to a lady like you to misuse it by shedding tears."

And when the print of his thumb traced over the heart shaped contour of her upper lip, she swore that her heart had the ability to become dematerialized and defy gravity.

"Mr. Uchiha, what are you–"

"–You had caviar spread across your tempting lips." She swore she had no idea what he said, but when she turned her head just to avert her stare from his, feeling a perusal creep along her cheeks, she saw that there was one woman from Sai`s entourage leaning forward, whispering something into his ear, and she tapped his shoulder, while he laughed back to her. Her lips froze like December rain.

Sasuke followed her line of vision and narrowed his eyes at Sai, who was obviously flirting with another woman.

His keen eye couldn't help but do a quick analyzes of the woman and he realized that she was the complete opposite of Sakura.

Too bad. He inwardly smirked. The rosette has already leaned into the embrace of the fascination she had for him, even before realizing it.

"I-I think I s-should return to– " And do what? Sai has already made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to have anything to do with her and he has accepted to marry her just because it was complacence and respect towards his parents.

She was beyond embarassed, her fiancé was blatantly cheating on her while everyone -the Uchiha included- could see what he was doing, and she also knew and heard the things they were saying about her.

Sasuke did as well and he was mentally burning and damning all of them to Hell and back. She was a commoner who tried her best to blend into their world of billionaires.

Some said she was trying to be a high class harlot, but she was falling miserably. Whatever they were saying, it was hurting her a lot.

"For a self-proclaimed reputed artist, he is quite shallow." Sasuke`s silk alto voice has brought her back to the realm of reality and Sakura turned to look at him, finding herself staring at his sharp precise defined profile. He was looking into the ballroom with an undecipherable expression on his handsome face.

She couldn't help the pooling chocolate volcano bubbling into the pits of her stomach as her inhales became sharper with every passing second, he was undeniable strolling over the peak of sexiness and elegance.

She almost didn't notice that he has insulted Sai for the second time in that night, but he noticed that she didn't jump into the fire to defend him, like she did the first time, disappointment oozing from her scintillating sylph person and percolated on his skin.

He felt bad for her and he was almost tempted to bad the guards to throw his ass outside the party that he has sponsored.

But instead, another more spectacular idea bloomed inside his mind. Smirking, he cocked his head to the lady who was entrapped into staring at his face -God damn it she was almost drooling- and breathed to her.

"You are a shrewd woman. You can make a rightful decision. In the end, it is the lady`s choice and never the man`s."

He slipped his hands into his pockets and took a step forward, running a hand through his messy hair and she swore it was velvet sewed into the twinkling starry night sky. He was sinfully attractive. "Remember what I have confessed to you. **It **starts at **23:45** p.m."

_Fireworks. Fragments of happiness and souls sewed like crystals on the night sky…_

"I am grateful to you for telling me this but I remembered that we will take our leave by then. He has an important trip to make and a plane to catch at first hour in the morning."

She just couldn't peel her eyes from Uchiha Sasuke for he was irresistible and he kept her drown into him.

Plus, she wanted to see fireworks, her grandmother loved the fireworks and told her that whenever she wouldn't be around, she could always stare to the sky became she would turn into stardust and watch her from the sky. Her eyes got moisten.

Sasuke has caught her sudden waiver of sadness and told her in the same sensual way which made her heart burst out of her chest. "You know where to find _me_."

_An invitation..._

She stroll towards Sai in complete silence without turning back for once and this time she was more shaky and nervous than ever, taking he rightful place beside him, wrapping her hand around his, a gesture he didn't return, but didn't comment nor did he push her away, making the said woman glare at her and unglue herself.

She has caught her talking with no other than Sasuke Uchiha for the second time that night clearly seeing him being the one to approach his woman again, who she tried to lure for the entire night, but he gave her absolutely no mind, not even a single stare. What was that feeling?

For the rest of the night, he kept on searching for Sasuke with her eye, but couldn't spot him in the crowd.

But his touch on her lip, for the rest of the evening she kept on touching her upper lip, like wanting to preserve that radiating warmth. She got chills and tingles running along the column of her spine, and her heart... what was that?

"Where have you been? By the time I went to the buffet where you were supposed to be, you were nowhere in sight."

Curly rimmeled eyelashes fluttered towards her spouse as try was having an absolutely detached and bored expression on his extremely pale face.

She almost forgot the sound of his voice, being too entrapped into Sasuke`s mesmerizing one and the resonance within his sensuality harmonization, to remember how her fiancé was doing his best to make her feel bad, out of place, not wanted and undesirable.

Yes, she was also a woman who strived to be wanted by the one who was supposed to love her.

For the past months, she come in terms with her mother`s choice for her and tried to take baby steps into stepping into Sai`s personal bubble, but except for a few hungry lavish lustful drunk stares, when he overdid it with alcohol, he didn't pull a single muscle to get to know her better.

For Sai, Sakura was someone who he tolerated in the realm of his house, because she was the ticket to be free from his protective parents` clutch.

"On the veranda." She answered simply, not going into unnecessary details, for instance with who and why. "I tasted the lobster."

Where was that smile coming from? Even Sai observed that she was beaming for the first time that night and her rather sad and blue serious facade was starting to glow with a mysterious radiance.

It took him by surprise if ever so little, but he didn't say anything. Sakura was a stranger, a mysterious woman who didn't stir his interest.

Yes, she was absolutely gorgeous in the long tantalizing dress she were, but that was it. She didn't have the power to captivate him like the others.

"And what else? Admiring _stars_?" he said in that haughty half of a grin she grew to loathe so much knowing all too well what he meant by stars –VIP guests like Uchiha Sasuke.

It was like he was emphasizing the difference between them, but that time, it didn't affect her because Sasuke has showed her the tremendous difference between his class and Sai`s.

It was no comparison, Sai was a poser, a wannabe, like half of the people around. Artist who kept on feeding from the stretched palms of the rich ones, to beg for support. He was pathetic. It was her turn to smirk at him. "How puerile."

"IT was not the stars I was admirer, Sai." She told him cryptically, while sipping... it was then when it strike her, that, in a rush to get her mind out of that entourage she despised, consisting of Sai`s dumb artist freaks, she grabbed the first drink that has come in front of her on a plate, it being a glass of red wine. Her lips frozen for a moment tapped on the rim of the glass.

"I do hope you took the chance to take a better look at the paintings and get familiar with them. That if you don't want to be forever an outcast, who cannot become my proud wife."

"Isn`t your job to introduce me and make it easier for me to accede to your world? Isn't this a man`s job?"

"I am supposed to marry you, not baby sit you, aren`t I now?" Supposed? Marriage should come out of own free will and it is not supposed to be about something it has been forced on him.

Sasuke has been right, she has started to see the true colors of Sai and it was only a abstract amalgamation of grey and black, without a meaning.

A shallow dimwit. Sasuke only refrained from using vulgar uncharacteristic language, but the meaning was still the same.

Emerald orbs flew on the giant mahogany golden pendulum and she felt a knot travel from the pits of her belly, to her throat. It was 23:45. She couldn't stop herself, she could react and let reason overwhelm the desire she felt, and before she could utter a pathetic apology, she mumbled to Sai that she was going to the ladies restroom and detached from his group, slipping past the chattering laughing happy people, bumping, shoving them out of her way, until her heels clicked on the breezy perfumed air from the veranda.

Except for a few scattered couples and men chattering lightly, enjoying fine beverages and discussing business, it was empty.

It was odd how an unusual intoxicating sweet scent of white magnolias were lingering on the air, a suave wind was blowing through her ruffling ample folds of her dress, molding over the apertures of her melodic curves, playing symphonies into her cherry blossom soft hair, as she brushed the longer rebel strands of her bangs off her eyes, as she looked around to spot the person she was looking for.

She let her steps carry her to the marble railing, while her gaze flickered to the giant fountain from the front garden, where a large mass of people were staring at the colorful puzzle of colorful lasers, creating an interesting purple, red and green effect, as fine Champagne was flowing.

It was such a starry clear night, the air was patient and gentle with her and she almost felt better in the solitude of the mesmerizing night, than in the presence of Sai.

She somehow convinced him to stay until the later and he probably agreed to her because some investors and arts lover freaks who were interested in his work, engaged him into another boring conversation.

_Lucky her. _

Sighing heavily once, she took another sip of her wine -she started to enjoy that beverage for some unexplainable reason- she leaned against the railing, feeling a little bitter, stupid and disappointed.

Sasuke wasn't there, as he promised, but somehow, she expected that. She was a level headed down to earth woman.

She has never been delusional, so she guessed that for someone like Uchiha Sasuke, someone like her was a fling.

A distraction. A source of entertainment, so she didn't kind expected him to be there. "I must have lost my goddamn mind."

She whispered to no one in particular and she would have never guessed that she will get an answer back from the man she was eagerly crave to see.

"Insanity is just a matter of perception, Mrs. Haruno." She literarily whipped her head over her shoulder and the golden ring around her viridian irises rivaled the halo of the moon above.

There, in a faraway corner, where a huge exceptional bouquet of exotic elegant WHITE MAGNOLIAS -she then pinpointed the pungent smell of flowers- arms crossed upon his chiseled chest –his uber expensive clothes did little to nothing to hide his obvious carved rippling body– stood the possessor of the most killer smirk in the entire universe, was casually leaning over the wall behind, looking straight back at her.

And just as so, the surrounding world has turned into a maze of blurred outlines, while he unglued his back from the wall and strolled over her, having that striking seductive composure and elegance in every step he took, walking proudly, lazily, and almost, dare she say, predatory.

Smirk never ceasing away from his oh-so kissable lips. She felt her heartbeat escalade with every meter he was melting down as he approached her. he was there, just like he promised! She couldn't believe it.

Before she had the chance to blink again –she never once did it, afraid he was just a cruel chimera that her desperate mind has produced, he stopped before her.

Maybe he was just one step closer that he should have, maybe it was just his intoxicating spicy perfume the one to enter her system without a chance to fight it back, maybe it was the moment when the first round of fireworks had burst and embellished the starry sky the thing that made her heart stop pumping life through her for a moment, but for the first time that night, Sakura found her lips curl up in a what it might have been one of her widest most sincere smile.

She couldn't help herself, nor did she care whether she was being rude, impolite and acting totally not like an engaged high class lady.

She didn't realize how much did she wanted for Sasuke to be there like he said he will be, until she hasn't seen him standing in all the glory of his beauty, so close in front of her.

"You came." His deep husky voice was fine and rich like sumptuous cognac and she fought back the chills he gave her when he whispered the words like that.

The vivid colorful fireworks were mirroring and scintillating into the emerald of her eyes, and yet, she couldn't peel her hues from Sasuke`s onyx ones. She could see their light played into his bottomless silvery irises. He was so close, so delicious, so breathtakingly irresistible, so...

She couldn't describe, just as Sakura couldn't place that attraction for him.

He was too much, too flawless, too intangible looking and too much out of her reach. A man like him, was one in a million. "Were you waiting for me?"

She felt the need to be more feminine, more hard to get and more mysterious. It has been such a long time since Sakura felt in the mood to flirt, but she couldn't help it.

Her gaze finally broke from his trap and she looked just in time to see the star dust the fireworks sewed on the nocturne velvet sky. It was so beautiful.

_He_ was so beautiful.

"I did actually."

"Why?" She couldn't help but ask him, while Sasuke never once removed his eyes from her, not even when Sakura fully turned to gaze at the last fireworks.

She has realized that time seemed to never flow while in his presence and it was easy to lose its peace while talking to Sasuke.

"Because I knew you couldn't stay away from me... _Sakura_."

Oh, by all the Heavens above, the way he rolled her name out of his tongue was so dark, so beat, so sinfully addictive and so sumptuous, that she felt her innards jerk and her heart leap a bit.

Right there and then, Sakura would have gladly sell her soul to the Devil, just to have him call her again.

She didn't even bothered to wonder how has he found out what her name was knowing that he was a resourceful man because he literarily ensorcelled her by the way he breathed it and gave her unimportant name a regal resonance.

Of someone who _cared._

"M-Mr. Uchih–" Before she had the chance to stutter his family name, not actually having the courage to call him by his name –Sasuke, even his name was goddamn sexy- the mesmerizing Uchiha snuck a hand around the swell of her hipbone, making her turn around in his embrace, brought the back of his hand up to cup her cheek, fingers latching into her coral rose locks and next thing she knew, the lips she kept on fantasize about found their way to her own surprised ones, pulling her into a mind-blowing kiss, while the crowd was cheering down in the main hall and the garden at the last round of fireworks, oblivious to what they were doing on the balcony. That was their very first kiss.

It wasn`t one to last long, but definitely Sasuke stole away two things from her: her breath and the promise to never forget him.

He was out of that world in terms of sweetness, arctic ocean mint, softness o his skin, the mind blowing technique he had to roll his tongue over her lips, while suckling them and darting inside to deepen their kiss, while she was just an unpolished jewel, with occasional high school flings and a fiancé who only kissed her once or twice but that was a facade in front of their families.

When he pulled apart, seeing that she had troubles in regulating her breaths, her fingers were intertwined into his raven hair.

It was even silkier to touch than it looked. SO rebel, spiky, yet soft and delicate. Just like his demeanor. "Sasuke." He corrected her huskily, commending and demanding, yet never rough or impolite.

She nodded once to him, smiling, flushing, blushing and panting. Her eyes were rivaling the twinkling of all the stars above. "S-Sasuke."

"Come with me." He gently coaxed her, folding both his hands around her waist, while he brought her into his chest, allowing her to feel the warmth, the steel like strength of his toned body and crave for him, lust for him and yearn for him.

"Where? Why?" She murmured completely charmed by the moment and finding herself wishing and praying for time to stop ticking and counting down the passing minutes just for them to enjoy the moment of feeling special and important for someone –even for one moment, because the feeling was exhilarating she felt so good and complete that she wanted to cry in emotion.

"In a place you will never dread to be and even find it a bit cliché but nevertheless, enchanting."

"And that would be?"

His words weren't beyond the sensuality of the smirk growing on his kissable lips in the embrace of the night when he leaned forward to breath into her ear.

"My _home_." Emerald eyes shot open as the last course of fireworks decorated the sky with twinkling colors and cheers were echoing through the garden, but she was blind ,deaf and oblivious and all the senses were running haywire ands his subtle invitation left her dizzy.

Everything has started with the nod of her head and the enchanting smile blooming on her lips, when she told him _'yes' _and not because she was an easy woman or a whore who would chase after every handsome male because she didn't get satisfaction and love from her fiancé, but because there was something about this Uchiha Sasuke which made her heart swell and her stomach to do flip flops and plus… she simply couldn't resist the unexplainable feeling of the two of them having a _deeper _connection than simply lust and physical attraction and the look in his eyes –the look of a man in _love _who genuinely believed that he has encountered a woman that he often dreamed of, the gaze of a man who was not just another rich player with an impressive record, convinced her to take his outstretched hand and subtly slide past the other guests and to the parking lot where his limo was seemingly waiting for them.

* * *

**~End of flashback~**

* * *

"Everything that we shared so far love, is forever ebbed into my memory." He told her between kisses that were overflowing from his moist lips along her chest.

Her hands were tangled into an exploration of their own along the planes of his sinewy back muscles, grazing his skin with her nails and reveling in the feeling of his lips against her skin –it was just like their first time together and equally marvelous.

the lust within the core of their eyes were reflecting like diamonds gleam stealing the colors of light and desire has align to the threads of adrenaline in my veins, as he kept on pumping bliss to the in the outskirts of my tumultuous mind, he was the oasis of mitigation I was yearning for.

His hands were meandering over the swells and crevices of her sweltering skin, and he played with the fire within his fingertip to burn down her mind and every inch of Sakura`s body that claimed as his, along with the spell bounding velvet growl of my name traipsing from his thin luscious lips.

There was desire in every gleam of the intoxicating black sapphire shimmer of his concupiscent eyes, as the obsidian entrapping ring around his irises were flickering to polish ivory and silver, sending her mind and the shelter of her heart into a millenary explosion of fireworks and starlight.

The fire within his orbs was ambling over the curves he was feeling up with the grace of his palm sliding along the contours of her glass flute waist, up to the outline of her breast, as his memorable touch was caroling with his other hand which was skimming on the aperture of her inner folds, digits rubbing and pressing on the lucent honey coated clit, coaxing pure bliss to stroll along the column of her spine, tricking her mind into thinking that the mattress beneath her sweating sweet squirming body was floating.

The column of her lower back arched in a deep S charged by the three merciless fingers that penetrated the wetness of her core, fighting the throbbing clasp of her inner walls around his lean digits, in their stroll to her peak of ecstasy, ingrained on her passageway, under her womb.

He just had to discover the center of the pleasure, and trigger that exhilaration that would send his name on her crying lips and her mind to oblivion.

The bulbs of her mind shot down and her reason and logic have been thrown in a blackout, while the only subtle figment that was churning inside her electrified mind was his name and the feeling of his damp alabaster skin writhing against her own. "Sasuke… oh!"

"Touch me Sakura." A delicate hand skimmed around the belt of his triangle muscles rippling along his hips and lower to curl around his semi erect body, running along the length with steady pumps while Sasuke speeded up the maddening motion of his fingers pumping inside her frenetically getting drenched in how wet and sticky she was.

His teeth were grazing the soft skin on her swan neck and alternated the pace of his lips nipping and suckling every inch of her glace skin all along her shoulders and the junction of her neck, avoiding to fondle her pert breasts on purpose teasing her.

"Sasuke… p-please–" Said Uchiha smirked in a devilish way against her skin remembering that she begged him just like this the first time when he made her his, and she preserved that incredible glowing innocence and purity about her, no matter how many times he had her dirty, rough, hard and fast, her voice and her half squeezed crystalline eyes remained just as helplessly in love with him.

The fine veins running embellishing the back of his engorged manhood were surging wanton desires and adrenaline, emphasizing the beauty and raw virility of his masculine beauty, while her fingers created a ring around the girth of its head, bobbling up and down, while her palm pumping him made his eyes roll in ecstasy, muscles tense and ripple while she pleasured him with the coy warmth of her hand.

It was intimacy on a whole new level while tantalizing each other while refraining from conjoining and fuck ruthlessly into oblivion, like animals set free from the sepulture of ration and their minds, being reduced to the mere personification of an inborn tango as old as the time.

she gave up any resistance, et her hands get flask lolling on her sides, and latch on the cold wall behind her, while his body crushed violently into her own, and Sakura was positive that they fused together, because at that point she couldn't make out where one begun and ended, she begun from her heart and ended into his the life pumping on his scorching herculean chest.

Their bodies rippled against each other, she felt any delicious aperture, crevice and swell of those mouthwatering body, as he was winding his hips against her, clothes scraping as body molded together.

She was fighting gravity so as to succumb entirely to his force and raw power, adoring the feeling of being possessed and dominated entirely by Sasuke.

She went lax into his arms and she was sliding on the limbs of euphoria as she felt him fight impatience and carnal lust to love her so intimately.

His sinful fingers were percolating along the valleys of her flute body, and she was trying her best to remain sane and listen to his body language.

His lips were an amalgamation of sparkling bubbling champagne and red doses, the lupine low growls musical and harmony of sin, while his touch was turning her more and more into a sinner with her porcelain skin marked of his curse.

An angel with broken wings, whose purity has fallen into the palms of the Devil, while her mind was dancing on the strings of the sweetest rapture and melody, she was addicted.

Addicted to everything that Sasuke represented, his persona, his very quintessence was the embodiment of perennial sublime manhood, seeping into her feeble body.

The air around was embed with his pelagic arctic strong masculine scent, the sparkles of electricity were making her core bubble and clench, charging her with his intoxicating charm, she wanted him so damn much it physically hurt her not to be with him. Anytime, at any hour, over and over, until the moon turned red by the touch of their passion.

She wanted him intense, strong, dominating, raw and seductive, sexy, dark and mysterious, just like he has always been: an oasis of infinite pleasure and comfort, two opposing concepts which were glowing into the essence one single man, who was able to make her forget her name, forget there was an exterior world coexisting with their passion behind those closed walls of his luxurious home, forget that night was only a suspended time in the real of eternity, forget there was an abnormally freezing melancholic autumn, painted in the colors of wine and cognac, forget all the suffering in her tormenting life, forget the monsters lurking from the pits of her nightmares, haunting her slumber and forget that her only mistake was being born too late into his life. Everything, but him.

From here on out, she was experiencing an elevating uplifting that was making her elevate to the realms of beatitude, drowning her glossy mind in ecstasy and happiness as she was positive that her days would resemble the sweetest fairytale from there on out.

She would never be alone, sleep alone and wake up in the fear of being in the house of a psychopath who didn't care for her and her feelings.

The idea of sleeping into Sasuke`s arms, curling into his chest and spreading her hands all over his body, like a kitten`s paws on fur, was making tears pool into her eyes.

She was feeling an indescribable happiness that it was consuming her flicker, like a candle, melting her against his body, as steaming caramel. "I have been dreaming for this moment, ever since I met you, Sasuke. I am so damn happy."

Albeit it was not her most romantic confession, Sasuke knew that she was genuinely sincere because for the first time since they met, her visage, eyes ad lips were void of any negative thoughts and the only emotion playing along her mimics were love, adoration, desire and felicity.

"I will not let you leave my side." Kisses exploded in a cremating bonfire showering and burning along her skin and lips while Sasuke was tattooing his lips against her skin and made her squirm and moan helplessly into his arms, growling deep into his chest like an unleashed beast burning with concupiscent impulses to corrupt and possess her mind and spellbind her body. "From here on out, I am sharing you with no one else. You are only mine."

There was no control that Sakura had over her body and her senses were running haywire. She couldn't feel anything around her not even her own paralyzed limbs except for Sasuke and the words that he was sprinkling to her in a bass voice so lush and intense that she could explode in bliss anytime from now, by the resonance in it and his fingers that stopped pumping her abruptly just when the ball of melting lava inside her belly seemed to be exploding and she frowned and moaned at him in protest.

But he didn't let her squirm and tousle too much fighting for release, because next thing she knew, Sasuke entwined his left hand with her right one, squeezing it and tightening his hold on her while Sakura opened her heavy lids in a torpid manner looking at him through glossy unfocused emerald eyes. "I love you, Sakura."

Her heart burst out of her ribcage when he said those words with his lips and his eyes singing in canon a line so simple and yet meaning the world to the both of them.

"I have always loved _you _and I will love you _forever_." And he will keep that promise who was not just a cliché line stolen from a romance novel.

When he penetrated her, entering on a fluid motion and filling her entirely and full until her body started to resist him, there were tears smothered under her lids that spilled like pearls along her cheeks and she started to cry, interlacing his unoccupied hand into his midnight hair. "What is wrong? Am I too rough?"

She shook her head unable to even mumble those words. "N-No…" He has never been anything else but graceful as a red rose on lace, always swift, striking and precise, but never calloused or demanding, knowing that he was a gifted man kissed by the epitome of virility and she was a delicate crystalline butterfly who would break.

Sasuke fought the irresistible impulse to thrust inside her until they broke the sofa in half and listened to what she had to say even if his body was aching and burning him to take her now. "N-No. It`s just–" She didn't know how to express it. The infuse of incandescent happiness was iridescent and so overwhelming, that the casket of her chest wasn't able to contain so much delight.

it was percolating off her body in the embodiment of dew drop pearl tears cascading in rivulets along the rims of her curled squeezed velvet curtain of rimmeled eyelashes.

"–tomorrow, I don't have to go anywhere anymore, and you are going to be with me. I have been dreaming for this moment ever since I have met you. Kiss you good morning, make love to you in the morning, call you my love... have breakfast in the lazy Sunday afternoon–"

He smirked against her skin and prompted on his palms to shadow her, and placed a chaste kiss so sweet like holly nectar puncturing the lucent lips then started to pump her slowly with ample rotating motions of his firm hips rippling against her in waves of pleasure, seeing and feeling how she curled her legs around him, locking ankles to dig into the aperture of his back, grinding and dancing along the same tango of insanity and pleasure.

He went so slow, so hard, he was so deep inside her, hips dancing together, floating above the realm of sanity, as if their bodies were not touching the silk mattress, soft gazelle ankles were straddling the swell of his toned hips, while her feet were sliding up and down his carved firm ass, as he kept swaying her back and forth, hard, fast, raw and firm.

The way he was making love was the embodiment of his inner personality. Never losing grace and passion, he was dominating, possessive, greedy and irresistible, hitting her with the quintessence of an unleashed hurricane washing across the merciless roaring sea, drowning her, swallowing her and making her his, taking her one step closer to the bottom of his realm, while she was abandoning her former self for a life full of everything that a woman could dream of.

Sakura absolutely adored everything that the definition of Sasuke represented, starting with his seductive unparalleled finesse and cultivation, to the way he acted in society, impenetrable, hard as a rocky solitary cliff piercing through the sky, superior, mystique, unflappable, tranquil and collect in the way he acted, charming her with his sophisticated vocabulary and refined manner of talking, to the opposite concealed side he was keeping caged in the casket of his mind, until they were together.

"I love you too S-Sasuke…" And Sakura fructified those moments to coax those unimaginable whirlpools of sensations that Sasuke evoked inside her, by turning into the total opposite of the intangible picturesque of his normal self, wrapping her into his mantle of unaltered supreme expression of virility and unrestrained abandonment.

Those were the moments when Sasuke Uchiha allowed the curtain of his impenetrable guard pull down and unveil the intoxicated vista of the sublime endowed man that he was.

He was not only physically naked of his usual fine branded luscious clothes, but from the chains of his continence and discipline as well, forsaken his ration, logic and sobriety, in favor of his animalistic savage thirst for her red rose skin and floral essences, possessing her with the feverous ferocity of a nocturne beast, howling for fresh blood.

Everything about him turned ten times more seductive, more appetizing, sexier, hotter, transpiring manhood and turning into the personification of the adulated marble statues of the Roman divinities and unconquerable Emperors.

By Heavens, the image of him has been stolen from Paradise, borrowing the visage of the archangels and cherubs, and embellishing the epitome of aphrodisiac beauty with the sinful magnetizing dark allure of a demon.

How could Sasuke be equally breathtakingly beautiful like an angel, yet lurking from the shades of twilight, was beyond her level of understanding, but it only made Sakura crave and lust for him even more.

Quivery hands were latched into the dusk of his obsidian silk hair, massaging his scalp, pressing her equally bare body into his own, challenging any particle of physical distance between their bodies, wanting nothing more than to melt into him, until their intertwined hearts would become the limbs of the same pendulum, ticking life together and counting down the seconds to eternity.

Sweet cherry fragranced drops of sweat were glistening along the apex of her collarbone and the crevice between her bouncing rounded mounds, the fire of her body was radiating fragments of the bliss she was feeling through her every pore, her plum bruised heart shaped sinfully wine red lips portrayed the euphoric 'o' of her silent screams, while Sasuke`s adulated name was embellished on her tongue.

She didn't know what was happening, her mind lost the contact with reality, her senses were electrically charged with cosmic energy, she had no control over her body, yet she felt every part of Sasuke pulsating on her skin, and it was Nirvana.

Like a bird returning to the feeling of completion she had whenever he filled her was indescribable to words, but so clear when read through her burning tears, spilling down her eyes, equally to the natural cycle of love and fulfillment, like a bird returning to its nest in spring, like a mountain spring seeping down the unaltered rocky peaks, flooding the alpine valleys with crystalline life, his engorged diamond hard member stretched the elastic abrasive inner walls of her slick hot passageway, all the way to the nest of her womb, getting closer and closer to the source of potential life lodging inside her and that thought alone was making her heart swirl in the tumult of love and hope that stormed within her, all caused by that raven haired Uchiha magnate, who vowed to be her man.

And he was, truly and faithfully giving himself to her entirely, doing anything she wanted, without having second thoughts.

It was pure adoration the way she enjoyed having him seeded within her, arching her back so deep to uphold her hips and meet his thrusts, that she swore she defied gravity, barely feeling the touch of the ruffling sheets beneath her, to take him even deeper inside.

Her head was spinning, there were exploding fireworks, spilling rainbows underneath her fluttering eyelashes as Sasuke wrapped his hands around her toned thighs, pressing them down to the mattress, spreading her wider, doubling the pleasure by gaining a better leverage to hammer into her at a better angle, plunging even deeper inside her, winning a siren high pitched shriek from her in return.

He would so love to dirty talk her, twist her mind with erotic growls of all the obscene things that he promised to do to her body, but Sasuke knew that Sakura was too lost to pleasure to heart and perceive anything. It was only bodies communicating, talking into a language that only they could understand, giving in to each other and coming into terms with the fact that they needed each other like universe needed gravity to nurture life and become a whole.

Beauty and maturity has blessed him everywhere, nothing at Sasuke was exaggerated or grotesque, but enough to invite any woman to fantasize over his skills and amazingly delicious sculptured physique.

He was not huge nor of an inconvenient size or compass, but definitely beyond the average size and his lean build was enough to make many other men jealous on his impressive display of fine masculinity, and he was fitting the tightness of her core, piercing through warm pulsating skin, bathing in the milky glistening essences that were surging from her body, flowing down her thigh, their bodies were sticky and embellished with the exposure of their intense love making, fusing with the perspiration of their hot grazing and hitting skin, arousal oozing from between their sparkling chemistry, lingering all around the room.

The air turned into blazing flames, the touch of his fingers skimming down the rims of her sides, slowly, sensually depicting the outline of her glass flute body inside his mind, imagining the seductive nymph writhing beneath him in the colors of the rainbow, painting his life, tickling her and leaving trails of his inner flickering flames, mirrored into his heated silvery-obsidian irises, all along their way, making her body flutter and feel alive.

When euphoria hit her like a hurricane, his lips muffled her cries of pleasure and suckled his name from her tongue that was dancing with his in the same cadence of their hips meeting together in a desirous dark tango.

She arched her spine against him deep and with a sudden jerk while her inner muscles clasped around him an making him a prisoner of her body then spilled her milky quintessence along his pulsating body leaking down her thighs and his navel and she melted like chocolate against him with tears still burning at the corners of her eyes.

The look in her diamond eyes made his own chest that was gasping for oxygen constrict and his heart soar; it was so overflowing with genuine unrestrained love for him, adoration, affection and beatitude.

They were bathed in a light so luminous that it engulfed the entire room. She was glowing like an angel captive into the cage of his heart.

Possessively, Sasuke gathered her flask moist body into his strong arms and upraised his upper body, hoisting her up to rest on his lap, satin gazelle long legs sprawled on either side of his upper torso, resting on his right elbow, while the other came to caress her red rose rouged flushed right cheek, tenderly, like a lover would do.

But he was so precise and swift, that he hasn't removed himself from her, keeping their hips latched together and the sudden change of angle had Sakura`s all body paralyze in pleasure.

She was barely breathing, while her hands instinctively winded around his neck, while her forehead attached to his own, leaning forward, as her damp pastel coral locks spilled over his shoulders, like a fine brocade bride`s veil, cascading between them both and Sasuke found himself immersed into a soft shade of pink horizon at dawn, her distinctive dark cherries sweet scent invading his nostrils and brain, making him go mad for her.

"Ride me, love." he beckoned her in his seductive nocturne low contralto voice that made her innards wriggle, as Sakura silently and eagerly obeyed his command.

The hand on her cheek strolled down to the swell of her breast, sliding around her back and cupping her ass, upholding her to align with his erect member, while her hand fall in between their hips, guiding him to the cleft between her legs, biting her lower lip when the feel of his arrow shaped rosy head pocked on her glistening sticky entrance, lowering herself down to his endowed length, shuddering at the feel of him spanning along her narrow passage, letting her forehead drop on his own, lips searching for his own, kissing him lazily as his hand lead her bobbling up and down, slowly, sensually, massaging the sweetness of her mouth, with his own, lips and tongues intertwined.

Oh God, Sakura simply couldn't stop kissing Sasuke, she loved him so much that her feelings churned inside her, like a spinning whirlpool, and he was so soft, so delicious, so good and skilled, returning her fever tenfold.

He didn`t just love the sex she had with him, she craved for the intimacy transpiring between them, that kind of supreme celestial connection that made her heart swim in the oasis of emotion and delight.

And now she was unrestrained to love him every single moment, spend her days with him, fill his nights with the outline of her smile, and lose in a happiness without borders, without having to hide from anyone anymore.

Her lips were whimpering his name, as she started to get lightheaded again, every single piece of her body trembling and throbbing as the familiar electrifying sensation shot down the plateau of her belly and navels, making her core bubble and burn like the fire, as she was hoisting her body up and down, massaging his ingrained inside her length with the softness of her body.

She felt him hiss like a boa snake deep and dangerous when she grounded her hips down his own, leaning forward to lean on his roughcast sweating chest, a palm pressed down the mattress, beside his knee, the other etched into his thick raven mane, pulling at it, as she squinted her eyes to peep at the brilliance of his beauty while she rode him, speeding up her peace, unable to go slow.

She was winding her hips along the planes of his rock engraved body, rotating and rippling around him like rolling sea waves, milking him with the juices seeping from her womb, as the sound of splashing skin fused with the scent of erotica and love making.

Flesh burning together, blood boiling with the intensity of their explicit love, they were lost, gone, connected, united and forgotten by the exterior.

When she was with Sasuke, time had no meaning to Sakura. He was eternity, beginning, ending, past, present and future, clashing together in the embodiment of the same face: his.

"Oh my God Sasuke!" She couldn't help the tremors, the convulsions of her body and the benumbing sensation in her inner thighs as she rode her way to pleasure, feeing liberated and utterly happy.

His hands were skimming along the curves of her body in a meandering symphony of ardent touches, fondling her brash bouncing breasts lovingly and sensually, then massaging her shoulders, her firm hips and sinewy waist, then tracing her arched spine.

She felt the mattress dissipating in waves of lava carrying them along the way to sin, to pleasure and vice naughty dreams and this time, there is no one coming in between them anymore, none.

Only the two of them together and forever.

Things that flew out of his mouth while she was undulating above him, winding her body atop his own and rolling her hips so that he would glissade in and out of her in all the right angles, were so dirty and yet so possessive and betraying just how much he was truly adoring this woman with his life and _beyond._

In the temple of his mind, Sakura was his only Goddess, keeping the eternal torch of hope and love alive for eternity, secluded in the realm of her aureate-forest green vibrant shimmering eyes.

The words _'I love you' _were the chorus for that midnight`s symphony and they both sung it in canon. Sasuke took a full fist of her rose hair which was flaring around her form seductively and brought her down for a toes curling kiss.

His hands descended from her lower spine to her ass guiding her as she changed the direction of her winding motion, sliding along his navel and thighs while she lost herself in his intoxicating French kiss.

Her lips were singing soft hymns of amour on his mouth, entangled with his hot tongue in a sensual tango of passion and dominance, suckling, nibbling suave cashmere skin, biting and pulling, madness poured in every brush and caress of their lips.

Her own Eve, who tiptoed from the Eden Garden to knock on the doors of crepuscule, trading light for passion, dancing an eternal tango on the wings of eclipse, sin and amour for the end of time and far beyond it.

His lavish lips massaging her own, his tongue rolling inside her throat in sloppy strokes, his taste, his scent, the warmth in the room from the shimmering fireplace, his damp skin grinding on her own, his vigorous body pulsating of an irresistible virility going deep inside her and filling her so incredibly fitting and natural, his chiseled body rippling under her fingertips and his own hands along her nymph form were simply too much to resist.

The bundle of nerves in her body amassed in the form of a heated ball tightening into the pits of her stomach and exploded like a comet, washing over her senses and making her go deaf and blind and yet at the same time, she couldn't have been more alert to her surroundings.

"Sasuke!" She came hard and unexpected screaming his name as she tore her bruised lps from his, panting and feeling her lungs press down her chest in need for oxygen.

"S-Sakura." His own ragged voice betrayed the tension he was trying to release as he took her entirely into his arms when she collapsed ungracefully atop his chest, rolling them over so that he was hovering her and, mindful not to crush her, he pumped her for three more times until he sprinkled his essences inside her drenched body, uniting their warmth and life forces. Her name came as a silk zephyr from his bass guitar tremble. "I love you."

She fall asleep with a blissful smile across her lips and his confession playing inside her mind, trapped into his arms, on the sofa without a care in the world.

She was so utterly happy that she could _die _right there in her lover`s arms and she will still be the happiest woman in the world.

* * *

**VII.**

* * *

Next morning was paradise to Sakura. She woke up with a smile on her face and there was a pale sun brushing the glass of the windows, caressing her fluttering emerald orbs as she stretched her limbs like a lazy content cat, yawning as the silk sheets were pampering her naked skin.

She took twice the time into the shower because there was no Sai threat lurking from the outside threatening to barge inside and do something she dreaded to remember.

Sasuke was a gentleman in all the sense of the word and he respected her privacy and modesty, even if he had her in ways that should be illegal. Then a maid came to humbly inform her that Mr. Uchiha ordered for the breakfast to be served.

She took her time to make herself look extremely beautiful, dressed, packed her stuff for college, she was in the mood to learn, study and went outside where an irresistible killer Sasuke in his office suit was waiting for her on the head of the long dining table in the foyer. It was the warmest place in the home.

She couldn't help but feel like a queen but due to his word, she was now officially living with him and hence, started her new life as the date of a billionaire.

Correction.

His _fiancé._

Oh God, her heart was having a crisis of sugar rush whenever she looked at the ring that she didn't have to hide.

Then, he took no form of protest to personally drive her to the University`s grounds, namely having his personal chauffer to stroll the shiny Bentley to the door, where he dropped her in the gasping mouths of the passing by students, because Sasuke made sure to held the door open for her and even kiss her passionately, wishing her a good day and call him to send for her when she was finished, informing her that he would be in his office, working his ass and thinking about her.

The moment the car speeded from the gates of the college, someone has yanked her from the Princess induced state of mind dragging her along the path, into the building where the first course was, namely a totally overexcited blonde haired friend of hers, Yamanaka Ino who was jumping and flailing, making Sakura`s mood be even more upbeat. "Oh –Em– Gee, Forehead! That was uber SEXY and totally romantic!"

She was contagious and Sakura couldn't help but link their hands and jump along on the halls with her friend. "Pinch me Pig, because I think I am trapped in the sweetest dream. Fuck, I am... yesterday night, we got_ officially_ engaged."

And by that she meant that no more masquerades would be between them and now they are free to shout it out loud to the entire world that they belonged to one another and… that whimsical grin that spread along her lips was something that Sakura couldn't stop from overcoming her.

"Oho, I can imagine you did that. You basically reek as steamy wild sex you little crazy bitch." The Yamanaka taunted her with a knowing wiggle of her slim eyebrows as they were making their way to their classes, not minding the stares that they –mainly Sakura was getting from the curious people, laughing between them at the concupiscent comment of her blonde friend but then again, both knew that Ino was not in the bit exaggerating.

"Shut up, you Pig you are just as bad. We had breakfast together, he let me cuddle with him and... it`s just... this is like a dream. I am finally free to be with the man I love Ino and to think that I had to go through a nearly fatal experience to acquire it although..."

She let the unspoken words trail between them and it didn't take a detective eye for Ino to realize what she was referring to with that suddenly teary downcast emerald orbs and the fingers that curled into the material of her blouse right upon her tummy.

The lost baby. And albeit Sakura hasn't insisted on that topic when Ino visited her to the hospital she knew that it was something heartbreaking for Sakura who was all oblivious to everything up until it was too let.

But she would permit that grim mood to take over knowing that Sakura would rather forget about that dolorous incident and quickly brush it off and the rosette beside her happily went along, trying her best not to burst out in another fit of tears.

"I am glad for you, Forehead. God only knows how much that moterfucker of your ex fiancé made you suffer along with your mother and his goddamned family. You deserve it, honey. Plus, you make people jealous. Everyone seems to be talking about you Sakura."

"They do?" heads turned subtly in their direction as they sunk into the long crowded halls full of glee students and the whispers confirmed Ino` declaration but this time, Sakura found herself not bothered by them on the contrary, now she was proud of the man who she was engaged to unlike when she was promised to Sai.

His name alone was making fury bubble inside her veins.

Hell she felt so confident that she started to flirt with the idea to sue his ass for abuse and throw him in jail for how he treated her.

"Well duh! This is what you get if you are seen hanging out with _Uchiha_ freaking Sasuke, the rich hot bachelor. Enjoy the popularity and go flail to Naruto as well. Hinata and him are a couple now, even if the fucker denies it."

"They are?" Her jaw almost hit the floor in shock because as far as she knew, Naruto was at the beginning of a potential relationship and it needed time to bloom into a flower of love; at least this is what Sakura thought and frankly, she had this feeling that _time _has counted more seconds to it than she originally thought. "Wow! When did it happen?"

"The masquerade you conveniently ditched to date your not _so _secret anymore fiancé." Ino taunted with a mischievous wink on her face, one that made Sakura frown at the blonde. "They spent the night together in one of those fancy hotels from the coast."

She whispered mindful of all the whispering mouths around and Sakura`s orbs went wide as saucers for the millionth time, not believing the piece of gossip that she missed.

Of course that Naruto came to visit her to the hospital but his visit was short and he seemed edgy –like he dreaded to meet a certain _someone, _ but she surmised that it was because her friend was not very fond of Sai and thus he didn't want to risk a scandal, so they didn't have time for juicy gossip and confessions.

No worries, she was catching up with it right now from her best fashionista gossiping friend.

"They didn't! Oh my God, they did?" It was hard to imagine Naruto and someone so gutless and aristocratic like Hyuga Hinata being twined in such a sinful romance, but then again, her story was somehow similar to theirs and she was genuinely happy for the Uzumaki; Sakura knew how bad the man lusted for that moony heiress.

"Yeah, and then he called me in the morning to tell me that she is going to introduce him to her father later on and they seem to be planning a ritzy dinner to break it to Hinata`s parents and the idiot is concerned over his choice of attire and table manners, can you believe it…"

Ino simply wouldn't stop ranting about the hottest piece of gossip about their buoyant friend and Sakura enjoyed every part of it laughing and whispering along with the Yamanaka, catching up everything she seemed to have _missed _lately in fact, where has she been up until now because it looked like she has been in some sort of _comatose _state and benumbed to everything but misery that she lived with Sai.

In fact, the jadeite eyed woman was in a very high spirit. She paid attention throughout all the courses, she had some very inspiring interventions which she has been praised from by her tutors and Professors and her day promised to get even better.

Why? Because she was not fighting the dread to meet unpleasant people afterwards and namely go home to that… abominable Sai fellow.

Ino flailed and shout it out loud for the ultimate friends assemble to go to a round of massive shopping and load her trunk with all he clothes and cosmetics and shoes they could get and then meet up with Naruto –and apparently _Hinata_, find a really fancy café and have a get together between friends

Ah,_ life_ suddenly got beautiful for her and the sun seemed to shine on her gloomy street once again and–

–she needed a new phone.

True to Ino`s words, the other students who has seen her and Sasuke in the morning were gossiping and whispering when they caught the sight of her on the halls, but she paid them no mind. So what if they were rotting in jealousy and envy?

Good for them.

Also, she was slightly anxious because she knew that Sai and her mother would find out about her earlier departure and first place they would search for, was going to be her university but Sasuke promised to send a car for her, along with one of his bodyguards, so she wouldn't have to be terrified by that thoughts. When she exited the building, she was already having a huge smile on her face.

The plan was simple: go home, change into something more comfortable, go to the mall and meet her blonde haired friend who had classes until later in the afternoon and have some good time before the dinner when Sasuke promised to be home, despite the mountain of paperwork that he had to take care of.

And eat something fast because her stomach was clenching and begging to be refilled.

"Sakura! I have been looking for you everywhere!" She literarily froze upon hearing _that_ voice reaching out to her.

"Damn!"

* * *

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A/N:

I know that I haven`t updated this story in a while but I have a solid reason for it and no it is not the fact that I lacked inspiration for it and nor does it mean that I have given up on it. I had this chapter done for a while now and kept on fumbling with posting it, but the truth is that I was reticent in updating this story because I felt that it lacks _something_ and I didn't know why.

But asking for the opinion of **ElevatedJewel-sama** -who is not only an amazingly gifted critic with an unparalleled eye for details and profound ideas, but also a brilliant talented author and a gemstone in this community- about the inconsistency of this story, she finally enlighten me with an objective professional explanation and as always she was my savior. So I am deeply grateful to her that she made it clear for me about the flaws –major ones of this story.

So guys, you don't even have to mention it now for I know it all too well the reason why this story is so incoherent, vapid and lacks the plot and those sprinkling feelings elicited by the peculiar touch of an author`s distinctive writing style. She made it so clear to me as in why my ideas couldn't get to you my readers.

I do not necessarily blame myself for it because this was among the first stories I wrote, hence lacked experience and vocabulary and pretty much didn't have time to explore the depths of writing stories. And all the aforementioned drawbacks are the result of such a weak material of mine.

So I deeply apologize for it; you could say that I was young and inexperienced in the arts of writing skills which I –hope- I honed in time. I know now what I have done wrong, but unfortunately enough I do not have the patience or the motivation to revamp this story –and this is also not my style.

I tried to fructify this idea of a soul traversing through the stages of the _death _based on folklore, national literature and some influences from the Tibetan book of the Dead the best I could, but I guess that it didn't come out as I planned it. This is also the reason for the lack of plot whatsoever, all the scenes that do not make sense, the stale cliché plot, Sakura`s complacency, the abusive relationship etcetera. I know that they are all annoying even if you mention it or not –which I do not mind, please don't misunderstand me guys.

I tried through this chapter to save whatever it could from this story and make it up to you guys and I hope that it was a little bit better than the rest. As promised, I will finish this story as it is and if by chance a better idea strikes my mind, then I will change it course, if not that is it.

Also… please please do not be mad at me for the spelling and English mistakes, but I simply do not have the patience to read it again and correct everything. I hope that you can still read it as it is. I spell checked it once but I cannot do it twice. My eyes hurt so bad and it is already so late and not to mention –though it is a bit unfair to you guys, I am quite busy these days and prefer to focus on my other stories. Sorry again. Let me know if there are huge inconsistencies or mistakes so that I can correct them.

For those who still read this story and didn't drop it, I bow to you in gratitude, you guys are amazing.

Special thanks for you guys who left a review to me even though this story is so weak -

**sasusakufangirlforever**

**Rui**

**GoldenEyedFury **

**precyjay **

**lovesasusakuforever**

**yamada. chibi **

**Guest **

**guest **

**uchiha. sakura. 23**

Your words are inspiring and gave me courage to update and write again and also strive to be better. My deepest gratitude to you guys, hugs and kisses!

Also, thank you a million times again **ElevatedJewel-san **for being such an amazing friend and a mentor. I owe you a lot, your wisdom is truly a gemstone and so are your advices!

I truly hope that this chapter was somehow better than the rest of the others and you guys could enjoy it even for a bit.

As promised, I will never give up on any of my stories.

Till later…


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